History Lesson
by Wasmowin93
Summary: Why have the Gems been keeping major moments of human history hidden from Steven. What were these events? Why do they matter? What does Steven's new friend know about these events?
1. Chapter 1: Cold War Chills

Chapter 1

* * *

October 26, 1962. The Cold War is in full swing with the Americans, Soviets, and now the Cubans all aiming their nuclear weapons at each other.  
As the dark cloud of World War Three seemed to be drawing closer each day, the Crystal Gems had been busy fighting off waves of crystal beasts that were emerging out of the ocean.  
The beast were in a panic, the threat of nuclear annihilation more present than ever, the beasts did the only thing they could think of; run.  
The Crystal Gems had already slain many of the creatures, but more always filled the ranks. Reaching the third hour of combat, the gems were growing tired.

"There is just no end to them!" an exhausted Pearl exclaimed. She ducked as a spider like beast sprang towards her.

With a loud crack, the spider beast was crushed by Garnet. She then charged and leapt into a mass of the creatures, slamming her fists into the ground to cause an explosive shock wave.

"Keep up the pressure!" she ordered as bit and pieces of crystal fell around her. "They have to weaken sooner or later!"

"Yeah, sooner sounds better!" the young Amethyst laughed over the fray, her whip cutting through the air.

Suddenly, the ground shook and buckled. Out of the ground burst a massive Centipeetle Queen.  
With a loud screech it began to attack and thrash at everything near it, gem or monster.  
Before the gems could come up with a plan of attack a large beam of pink light cut through the centipeetle and swept down the wave of monsters, vaporizing them. Once the light faded, the three gems turned towards the light source. Sanding proudly next to the still glowing Laser Light Cannon was Rose Quarts.

"Rose, thank the heavens you're here!" Pearl exclaimed joyfully at the sight of their powerful leader.

"Yeah, you made it just in time!" Amethyst said with a wide grin. "Plenty of monsters to go around!"

With a bright pink flash, Rose summoned a sword and shield and rushed to join her comrades.

"We must hold them here!" she shouted in a loud commanding voice. "Those creatures must not be allowed to reach the mainland!"

Just as Rose had rallied the gems, the ocean began to swell and writhe with the movement of an impending attack.

"I don't think I need to tell you what happens if we fail!" Rose stated firmly, her sword and shield raised. The gems all nodded in agreement.

"No more Beach City," Garnet responded, her gauntlets shimmering.

"I like Beach City," Amethyst growled angrily, uncoiling her whip.

"As do I," Pearl added as she readied her spear. Suddenly, hundreds of crystal monsters came stampeding out of the ocean and straight for the city, with the gems being the only thing standing between them. The gems steeled themselves for what would surly be their largest and most dangerous battle of the century.  
Before the gems could charge the monstrous horde, two F-4 Phantoms screamed across the sky.  
They swooped in low and dropped a cluster of bombs across the wave of monsters.  
Like something out of a nightmare, the bombs detonated into a wall of fire and smoke. The force of the blast threw the gems back against the beach.  
A loud collective wailing echoed from the burning horde. After the ringing in her ears stopped, Pearl managed to push herself off of the ground.  
She was aghast at what she saw in front of her. The monsters where writhing in agony as the intense heat softened and shattered their bodies apart.  
A thick, ink black cloud of smoke bellowed ominously above them, like a massive funeral pyre.

"What the heck was that?" Amethyst shouted as she held her stinging ears.

"Napalm," Rose answered calmly, brushing the sand off of herself. "A human weapon of war."

"If they have crap like that, then why do we still need to protect them?" Amethyst asked bitterly, earning a smack on the back of the head from Garnet.

"Somethings can't be destroyed by their weapons," Garnet said flatly.

"That's where you're wrong ma'am!" a loud, gruff voice interjected. Standing on the higher shore line stood several soldiers armed with M16s. Spread out between the groups of infantry stood four M60 Patton tanks with their guns raised and aimed at the beach.

"You might want to duck," Garnet said as she pushed Amethyst and Pearl to the ground.

"Open fire!"

As the order was given, the tanks and soldiers open fired on the still burning mass of monsters.  
Automatics fired in long intervals, only stopping when needing ammunition. The bullets whittled and broke off pieces of the monsters.  
The tanks fired their 105mm cannons in a thunderous chorus of destruction. Each shell blowing large chunks of crystal off of the monsters.  
The gunfire lasted only about five minutes, but to Pearl, who had never actually seen these new human weapons in action, it felt like an eternity.  
Explosive propelled projectile weapons, liquid fire, soulless metal siege engines, all of it was barbaric. She shook with fear whenever the tanks fired their cannons.  
The commander of the platoon raised his hand, signaling the soldiers and tanks to stop firing.

"Did we fry those bitches, Lieutenant Colonel?" one of the tank drivers yelled, his head sticking out of the driver's hatch. There was a long silence, there was no longer any cries of agony. The creatures were dead.

"Yeah we fried em' up good!" the Lieutenant Colonel announced loudly. He was met by a loud "Oorah" from the rest of the soldiers.

"Alright, men, I want a perimeter set up around the beach!" the Lieutenant ordered. "If anything bigger than a hermit crab comes out of those waters, I want you to light the beach up like it was Omaha!"

As the soldiers began to set up the perimeter, the Lieutenant Colonel leaped down to the beach to meet up with the gems. All of the gems with the exception of Rose were shaken and on edge.

"Sorry about all that mess Rose," the Lieutenant said with a smile. "Talk about 'danger close'."

"It's quite alright, Lieutenant," Rose responded warmly as she straightened out her dress. "But next time, give us more of a warning, I'm not as spry as I used to be." The lieutenant laughed, being an old war vet, he understood where she was coming from. He sighed and scanned the beach until his eyes fell upon a very shaken Pearl.

"First time witnessing American firepower, Pearly?"

Pearl shot a angry glare at the lieutenant.

"T-that was, b-barbaric!" Pearl exclaimed loudly, still a little tone deaf. "Absolutely barbaric!"

The smile on the lieutenant turned into frown.

"You can call it whatever you want, Pearly," he retorted. "Bottom line is that me and my men saved your butts. So maybe you could show some gratitude."

Pearl was seething with anger. Not only did he nearly get them all killed in a drawn out and merciless show of force, he expected gratitude for it.

"Gratitude, for that?" she asked while pointing towards the still burning mound of monster bodies. "We had the situation handled with out you or your machines mucking it up!"

A spiteful snicker escaped the lieutenant's lips.

"Oh, yeah, you were doing just peachy out there," he spat. "A thousand against four. With odds like that, I guess you didn't need our help after all."

That did it, Pearl had had enough. With a fluid motion, Pearl slapped the lieutenant across the face. The slap had the force of a full grown man's punch behind it.  
The lieutenant turned his head back towards the gems, his eyes piercing like daggers.

"Now you've done it!" he roared in anger, his hand reaching for his M1911 pistol. Before he could pull the trigger, or Pearl could retaliate, Rose summoned a shield between the two.

"Pearl, what in heaven's name are you doing?" Rose asked in a loud, stern voice. "This isn't like you at all!"

"Yeah, P, chill out," Amethyst interjected, surprised at Pearl's behavior.

The lieutenant stood with his gun raised, his finger on the trigger.

"My, men risk their lives to help you gems, and this is the thanks we get?" he said with a lisp due to a swollen cheek.

"I am so, so, so sorry lieutenant," Rose responded, trying to defuse the situation as quickly as she could. "I can assure you, that this behavior will not be tolerated."

The lieutenant ran his tough along the inside of his mouth, soothing his throbbing cheek. He weighed the pros and cons of trying to arrest the insolent gem.  
But, he had more important things to do than bicker with a bunch of rainbow colored oddities. With an irritated tsk, he holstered his pistol.

"All of you, leave the area at once!" he ordered loudly.

"Thank you lieutenant," Rose sighed with relief. As Rose shooed the gems along the lieutenant stopped her.

"The next time that 'Pearl' pulls something like that again..." he paused to suck the saliva back into his mouth. "The next time she pulls something like that again, I'll have her dragged off in an prison transport." Rose was silent as the reality of the threat set in.

"Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal clear..." Rose responded in an ice cold tone.


	2. Chapter 2 : The Rose and The Rat

Chapter 2

* * *

Rose sighed heavily, her body ached and her mouth was dry. She wondered if the rest of the gems understood the seriousness of the situation the world was in at this time. Sure they had faced many life threatening challenges before, but how could they possibly be prepared for a nuclear war?  
With tensions between the Americans and the Soviets straining by the hour, it seemed more likely that she would wake up one day to mushroom clouds.  
So far the only other gem that knew anything about the war was Garnet. Pearl was too easily panicked already without the thought of WW3 in her head, and Amethyst was too young to understand anything about the war. She shook her head, pushing the troubled thoughts from her mind.  
Right now she needed to return to the temple and scold Pearl for her behavior.

* * *

"_What in the world has gotten into her?_" she questioned. Pearl had always been the calm and collected one out of the group.  
Maybe not as calm as Garnet, but calm when it counted. Whatever was wrong with her, Rose assured herself that it could be worked out.

Despite the chaos that happened earlier, it was otherwise perfect outside. Warm and cloudless, a gentle breeze, and the sound of the ocean greeted Rose.  
Not wanting to waste such a wonderful afternoon, she decided she would walk back to the temple instead of teleporting.

"Repent, the end is nigh! For soon the son of Enola will cleanse the earth with holy nuclear fire!"

Rose rolled her eyes as she pass a ranting homeless man turned dooms day prophet. She had studied human mythology, and no where did she ever hear the term "Son of Enola".

"Nonsense," she said quietly as she passed the bum.

As she continued her walk, the sweet smell of baked goods greeted her. As good as a box of donuts sounded, Rose knew she had no time for them.  
Passing the bakery, she heard a loud banging coming from the dumpster. Suddenly, the lid flew open. Out of the dumpster crawled a small human boy.  
The child was pale, dirty, and sickly thin. To Rose, the child appeared to be no more than four years old.  
In his hands, he held a moldy mass that was at one time bread. With a growl, the child began to gnaw and bite chunks out of the bread.  
Rose slowly and carefully approached the child.

"Hello there young one," she whispered sweetly.

Startled, the child turned around and faced her.

"I wont hurt you," Rose said with a smile.

She kneeled down and held her out her hand. The child cocked his head slightly, unsure what she was doing. Slowly, the child wobbled over to her, the loaf of moldy bread still in his tiny hands. Rose smiled warmly down at the child. She could not believe that someone could be heartless enough to abandon their child.  
No matter how many times she had seen it in her travels, it never stopped disturbing her.

Slowly and cautiously the child grasped Rose's hand. He gave a small sigh of happiness, he was cold and she was very warm.  
With motherly tenderness, Rose picked the child up and held him in between her arms, cradling him.

"There we go, there's a smile," she said softly. "Did you get separated from your mother?"

The child lowered his eyes sadly.

"Do you have a father?"

The child whimpered softly and shut his eyes, burying his face into Rose's shoulder. Rose felt a single tear run down her cheek.  
The gems would have to wait, right now Rose needed to find someplace safe for this child.

"Don't worry little one," she said warmly. "My friends and I will help find you a home. We are the Crystal Gems."

At the sound of word "Crystal Gem" the child began to cry and thrash violently. Bewildered by the child's sudden change in behavior, Rose tried her best to comfort him. As he flailed and screamed, a lucky kick hit Rose right in her gem. The sudden, tearing pain forced her to release the child.  
Like a wild animal, he ran deeper into the ally, screaming something that was almost unintelligible.  
He leaped off the ground and onto the chain-link fence, crawled over it, and ran off, still screaming.  
Rose kneeled in silence, dazed at what had just happened. Weeping quietly, she placed her hand over her mouth. Her weeping turned to sobbing as she figured out what the child had been screaming.

"They want to kill me."


	3. Chapter 3 : Missing Home

Chapter 3

* * *

With the child's screams still raking her mind, Rose decided that she had had enough of the outside for one day. With a flash from her gem, Rose teleported back to the temple. Her arrival was met with silence, the gems were too tired for conversation. Garnet was resting on the couch while Amethyst was busy finding something to eat in the kitchen. A quick look around the room revealed that Pearl was absent.

"Where is she?" Rose asked in a stern voice.

"In her room," Garnet answered monotonously.

"Yeah, she was pretty mad," Amethyst added, her mouth full. Rose sighed, she was not going to enjoy this. She walked up to the crystal gate and opened the portal to Pearl's room.

The sound of rushing water echoed through the room with light, soothing piano music playing ambiently. Pearl was meditating on the suspended platforms above the water pillars. Rose approached the water basin's edge.

"Pearl, we need to talk," she stated with an authoritative voice.

"There is nothing to discuss," Pearl answered coldly.

Suddenly, the platform she was on fell and dropped into the water. Luckily, Pearl gracefully landed feet first on the water's surface. Pearl looked to Rose with a mixture of shock and disbelief.

"I disagree," Rose said with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"You have made your point, now what do you wish to discuss?" Pearl asked bitterly, crossing her arms.

"Your behavior today was completely unacceptable," Rose stated in that mamma bear kind of way. "What were you thinking?"

"My behavior?" Pearl scoffed. "Did you not even see what those humans did to those creatures?"

"They destroyed them," Rose answered flatly. "The same thing we were tasked with."

"No, it is not the same thing!" Pearl burst out angrily, her face blue anger. "We are merciful, quick, and painless. What those brutes did was pure butchery!"

"But that is not the reason you struck the lieutenant, is it?" Rose responded.

"I struck him because he was a pompous animal!" Pearl snapped, her arms shaking with held in fury. "He kills a few of those creatures and suddenly we owe him respect? Two hundred years ago those monsters would have torn him asunder! Then he had the gall to threaten me with that brutish human weapon!"

"That does not excuse your behavior," Rose stated firmly. "Your actions were not only disrespectful, but disgraceful. Therefore, you are to write a letter of apology for the lieutenant."

"I will do no such thing!" Pearl snapped hotly. "If you expect me to actually apologies to that brute-"

"You will do as you are ordered!" Rose boomed loudly, her eyes glowing white and hair whipping around in the air as if caught in a hurricane.

Frightened, Pearl collapsed, eyes wide and tears trailing down her face. Rose took in a deep breath, she hated having to shout.  
She approached the trembling Pearl and offered her a helping hand. Pearl pulled herself up then threw her arms around Rose, sobbing uncontrollably.  
Rose sighed and embraced Pearl in a motherly hug.

"I want to go home," Pearl whimpered.

"Earth is our home now, Pearl," Rose responded warmly, stroking Pearl's hair soothingly. "One day you will accept that." With her sobbing subsiding, Pearl looked up at Rose.

"I'm sorry for how I acted," she said in a quiet voice. "With how chaotic this planet is, it makes me miss our home so much more." Rose smiled, happy that the Pearl she knew was back.

"I know how you feel, Pearl. We all do."

* * *

Hours after Rose and Pearl's resolution, the sun had set on Beach City. Everything was quiet with the exception of the occasional sound of a military helicopter.  
With the rest of the gems asleep, Rose stood and watched the ocean from the living room window. Her stomach still hurt from the kick to her gem from earlier.  
Rose thought back to the child in the alleyway. There was something very unnatural about him. The child gave off some kind of aura that was disturbingly similar to a crystal gem's. But he was made of flesh and blood, like a human. None of it added up. What did he mean by 'they want to kill me'? Who wanted to kill him? The crystal creatures? The US army? The Crystal Gems? Rose bit her lip in frustration.

"How did things go with Pearl?"

"I thought you were asleep," Rose responded, not breaking her gaze from the window.

"We don't need sleep, remember?" Garnet stated as she adjusted her shades. She stood beside Rose, looking over her shoulder.

"I believe Pearl will be alright," Rose said with a hint of relief in her voice. "I just think that she was exhausted from the battle. Not to mention the lieutenant's little display of human ingenuity obviously unnerved her, poor thing."

"Humans do love their weapons, don't they?" Garnet smiled.

"That they do, Garnet. That they do."

There was a short moment of silence, between the two. Garnet placed her hand on Rose's shoulder.

"You should get some sleep," she said in her usual flat voice.

"I will, Garnet," Rose responded with a tired smile. "Who knows, maybe the Americans and the Soviets will start to get along again."

Garnet chuckled lightly with Rose.

"Yeah, just like during the war."


	4. Chapter 4 : Dawn of the Burners

Chapter 4

* * *

January 17, 1991. A loud explosion shook the temple, awakening the gems. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl rushed out to the balcony to find the city in chaos.  
Buildings were burning, smoke choked the sky, and cannon and gun fire cried out all over. A sudden blast of air caught the gems by surprise as two A-10 Warthogs flew over the temple. With a loud 'bbbrrrttt' sound the A-10s fired into the city.

"What's happening?!" Rose beseeched as she ran to the balcony.

"We hoped you could tell us," Garnet replied.

"I'm as clueless as you are," Rose responded. "I usually predict things like this before they happen." Another explosion boomed by the Big Donut shop.

"Those people need our help!" Pearl stated loudly, summoning her spear. Amethyst popped her knuckles and summoned her whip with a loud crack.

"This just had to happen before breakfast, didn't it?" she groaned loudly. "Alright lets effing do this!"

Garnet raised her fists, her gauntlets flashing into existence.

"Ready!"

Rose's gem flashed as she summoned the Laser Light cannon. As if it weighed nothing, she hoisted it over her shoulder.

"They picked the wrong city to mess with!"

* * *

The gems teleported down to the streets. Before them was a small military blockade. Piled up sandbags and concrete road barriers blocked off the roads. Pearl ducked in surprise at the sound of a 50cal firing atop a parked Humvee. All around the blockade laid black, smoldering husks of some type of creature.

"Overlord, this is Hunter 22 Actual!" a young army sergeant shouted into his communicator. "The Gems have arrived! Do you copy? Over."

"Overlord copies, Hunter 22 Actual."

Rose and the rest of the gems, walked over the the sergeant, who was shouting orders to his men.

"What's happening here?" Rose asked.

The sergeant shook his head.

"No clue," he stated. "About four hours ago, these weird critters started swarming all over the city. We call them Burners"

"How bad is it?" Rose asked.

"Bad, and getting worse," the sergeant stated grimly. "They hit us so fast. They aren't like anything we have seen before. Standard munitions don't faze them. Even our anti-gem rounds aren't working much better."

"Anti-gem rounds?" Amethyst asked, a little worried that the army would even know how to make such a thing.

"Yeah, they just bounce off of the critters carapace. Tanks and bombs seem to still be fairly affective against them, but even our tanks can get swarmed. The little bastards crawl up underneath them and blow themselves up."

"Contact! West side!"

Before anyone could react, something lept over the barricade and attacked one of the soldiers.  
After tearing the poor soldier apart, the creature turned and faced the gems.  
Rose recoiled in horror as did the rest of the gems.  
The creature stood about three feet off of the ground on five spindly legs. Two sickle like blades jutted out from it's underbelly towards it's front like a scorpion.  
The creatures head, much to the gems horror, look like that of a human infant's with the exception of having large, jagged teeth.  
It's body was a dull gray color with a glowing orange light pulsing underneath it's armor.

With a loud and grinding wail, the creature attacked. Acting quickly, Pearl threw her spear at the creature, only for it to bounce off harmlessly.  
Undeterred, the creature leaped towards her, it's sickles raised, ready to tear the gem asunder. Before it could reach Pearl, Garnet grabbed it's head and ripped it off. As the headless body writhed and flailed, red hot liquid gushed from its neck. Unfazed, Garnet threw the head over her shoulder.

"D-did you see that?!" Pearl asked shaken, gripping her spear tightly. "It's not made of crystal!"

"If it's not made of crystal then what is it made of?" Amethyst asked, wide eyed and unnerved.

"Metal," Garnet answered flatly. "They're made of really hot metal."

"I hate to break this to you, but that's not just any metal," the sergeant said in a very serious voice. The gems turned expectantly to him, wondering what he meant.

"It's Uranium."


	5. Chapter 5 : Infernal Womb

Chapter 5

* * *

"Uranium?" Amethyst asked. "What's that?"

"It's a heavy Earth metal," Garnet answered while adjusting her shades.

"It's also very radioactive," Rose added. "Painful to us but lethal to humans."

She looked over towards the sergeant. He was checking the body of his fallen comrade. Not only had the creature ripped apart the chest of the soldier, but it had also charred the victim's face with a focused radiation discharge.

"God dammit!" he cursed, stomping his foot in anger. "That makes three of my men those bastards killed! If only we knew where the Burners were coming from!"

"Hunter 22 Actual, this is Overlord, do you copy? Over."

"This is Hunter 22 Actual, we copy, over."

"Hunter 22, thermal satellite imaging is showing several heat signatures coming from the abandoned coal mine on the east side of the city. We have been unable to get visual confirmation as the radiation in that area is too high for standard operations, over."

"Did you all hear that?" the sergeant asked, turning towards the gems.

"Yeah, go in outnumbered, and against an enemy that we have almost no way of fighting," Amethyst answered in a spiteful tone. "Anyone need me to repeat that?" Both Garnet and Pearl gave her a smack to the back of the head.

"Amethyst!" Pearl scolded.

"No, she's right," the sergeant interjected. "On a scale of one to ten, is plan is a zero. But if this situation is not contained, then the Air Force has orders to level the city."

"Then there is no time to spare," Rose stated firmly. "We didn't lose the city back in 1962, and we wont lose it now!"

The gems all found strength in Rose's words. Any doubts they might have had were gone. Even the soldiers were moved by Rose's words.

"Good luck out there, ladies," he said along with a salute. " I don't care what my dad says about you gems. You are the best thing to happen to humanity since Jesus Christ!"

Pearl's smile turned into a look of surprise. The sergeant was the son of the Lieutenant Colonel that she had slapped.

Amethyst busted out laughing the moment she put two and two together.

"You have a legacy!" she laughed as she smacked Pearl on the back, who was blushing a dark blue.

"My dad still bitches about it too," the sergeant laughed with the rest of his men. "Listen, I got a brother in the Air Force who is flying around in one of those A-10s. I'll see if he is crazy enough to hammer the area around the coal mine for you. If you see an A-10 named 'White Witch' that will be him."

"Thank you sergeant, you and your men try to stay safe," said with a smile.

"Yes, ma'am," the sergeant replied.

"Lets go, gems!"

* * *

With a bright flash the gems teleported to the valley that lead to the mine. Burners were crawling all around the gems. One of the Burners spotted the gems and gave off a loud screech, alerting the rest to their presence. Acting quickly, Rose summoned a large shield around them. Like lice the Burners began crawling all over the shield, clawing and biting at it.

"Stay calm, gems," Rose ordered. "The Witch as arrived."

Suddenly, above all of the wails and cries of the Burners came a booming sound that was like the horn of the apocalypse.  
In an instant, the entire area became a saturated storm of fire and metal. What followed was the unmistakable sight of an A-10 Warthog.  
Along the side of the jet was the title "White Witch" underneath a rather undignified picture of Pearl straddling a bomb.

"_I'll be angry about that later," _Pearl noted mentally.

On it's second pass, the A-10 fired a barrage of high explosive missiles into any remaining swarms of Burners.  
As the smoke and sooth settled, the A-10 flew off in the opposite direction, it's job was done.

"Three cheers for the White Witch!" Amethyst cheered loudly and mockingly, smirking at a rather unamused Pearl.

"It's not funny, Amethyst!" Pearl snapped.

"Is too!"

Not a moment after the jet had left, more swarms of Burners came crawling out of the mouth of the mine. Rose armed her cannon and aimed it towards the mine.

"Back to whatever pit you came from!"

With a blinding flash, Rose fired her cannon. The laser tore a swath through the emerging Burners.  
Rose held the beam in place for as long as she could, she wanted to make sure that the area was thoroughly cauterized.  
Finally the beam weakened before finally stopping altogether. With the cannon still glowing, Rose stood back to admire her work.  
The whole area around the mine reminded her of the Battle of the Somme back in WW1.

"Mover forward to the mine!" Rose ordered. "Vanquish anything that gets in your way!"

* * *

Like a steam roller, the gems advanced, any stragglers that were left fought back savagely. Garnet was the most effective fighter out of them gems.  
Not needing to guard herself against the molten metal blood of the Burners, Garnet fought unhindered.  
Amethyst used her whip to garrote off the heads of the creatures from a safe distance.  
Pearl used a tactic that involved prying the armor off between the softer metal and then striking when the creature was armorless.

"I honestly had expected this to be more difficult," Pearl stated happily. "I think Rose's cannon got most of-"

Pearl was cut off mid sentence as a clawed hand burst from underneath her, pulling her to the ground.

"Pearl!" Amethyst cried out as she ran to aid the fallen gem. The hand tightened it's grip on Pearl's ankle, it's claws cutting deep into her skin.

"Get it off, get it off, get it off!" Pearl screamed in a panic.

No matter how hard Pearl or Amethyst tried to pry the fingers apart, the grip remained vice-like. Suddenly the hand began to glow white hot. Pearl screamed in pain as the hand burnt deeply into her. Finally, Garnet managed to break the fingers loose and freed Pearl. With a mighty pull, Garnet ripped the creature out of the ground. Rose's jaw dropped in shock and dread. The creature looked like the child from the ally way twenty-nine years ago.  
With a ghastly shriek, the creature detonated, covering Garnet with molten slag. Unfazed, she wiped herself off.

"Lava burns hotter," she stated monotonously. "I swim in lava."

Rose felt sick to her stomach. Was it possible that the child from the ally was responsible for all of this? And if he was, how and why? Rose looked into the dark mouth of the mine. Her mystical instincts told her that something or someone was calling out to her.

"Garnet, Amethyst, you stay here and watch over Pearl." Rose ordered in a commanding voice.

"But Rose-" Pearl tried to interject, but was stopped by Garnet, who shook her head.

"She must do this alone."

* * *

The gems could only watch as their leader walked into howling darkness that was the coal mine.  
Rose slowly made her way through the pitch-black mine tunnels, the only light was coming from her gem. Everything about the mine felt wrong and unearthly.  
There was no air flow yet the mine sounded almost like it was breathing. Rose heard what sounded like someone crying.  
She then found herself in a large open cavern that was a mile wide and a mile high.  
Suddenly the old lighting in the mine flickered on.  
During her years on Earth, Rose had seen countless examples of cruelty and depravity. None of them prepared her for what stood before her.  
Standing in the center of the cavern stood a massive metal sculpture of a multi-armed woman.  
Upon further inspection, the sculpture appeared to be a sickening parody of herself. Connected to it's back were large metal pipes that were driven into the walls and ground. Around the base of each tube were several pits of bubbling, molten slag.  
Rose felt her heart sink at the sight of the sculpture's final and most distinct feature. In it's belly, a man was chained into the sculpture.  
He had wires and tubes running through his decrepit body. Liquid metal seeped and dripped out of his mouth and eyes.

"My, God," Rose rasped, horrified beyond words.

At the sound of her voice, the man lifted his head to look at her and smiled.

"I know you," he strained in a gravelly, cracking voice. "The pretty lady from before."

"You," Rose gasped. "You're the child from the ally! What happened to you? Who did this awful thing to you?"

The man started to convulse and cough violently. "There is no time left! She is almost here! Please, you have to kill me!"

All around the cavern, wails and screams began to echo out of the pits of slag.

"Who is almost ready?!" Rose asked. "Is she the one who did this to you?!"

"She's almost here!" the man screamed in terror. "You have to kill me!"

"No, there must be another way!" Rose cried out. "No one has to die!"

"There is no other way!" he screamed. "Make it stop! Please kill me!"

Rose felt a chill run through her. As a crystal gem, causing the death of a human was forbidden, yet it was clear to her that whatever was coming had to be stopped before it was too late. Rose shut her eyes and summoned her sword. She took in a breath then began to sing.

_Hush little baby, don't say a word. _

_ Mamma's gonna buy you a mocking bird._

The sound of her angelic voice made warmth rush through the victim. He stopped thrashing and turned still.

_If that mocking bird wont sing._

_ Mamma's gonna buy you a diamond ring._

Rose's voice traveled out of the mine, allowing the gems to hear the hidden pain in her song.

_If that diamond ring turns brass._

_ Mamma's gonna buy you a looking glass._

Rose yanked the man from the hellish slag womb.

_If that looking glass turns dull._

_ Mamma's gonna buy you a chart and bull._

She laid the man gently on the ground, his head resting on her lap. He smiled and held her hand weakly, tears rolling down his face.

_If that chart and bull breaks down._

Rose jammed the sword into the man's heart. He gasped one last breath of air, then slowly released it in a long death rattle.

_You'll still be the sweetest baby in town._

The child in the ally, who had been forced to suffer his entire life, finally felt peace. As his body began to burn, the mine began to rock and shake violently.  
With the mine on the verge of collapsing, Rose teleported out. In her hast, she failed to notice that a small glowing white hollow cylinder had fallen out of the man's body.  
The mine collapsed, and with it the unholy statue. All around the city the Burners began to die and turn to dust.  
The gems watched as the mine fell into itself in amazement.  
A bright pink flash behind them alerted them of Rose's return.

"Rose, thank the heavens you're alright!" Pearl exclaimed happily.

Rose did not respond, her eyes looked dark and lost.

"Rose...you alright?" Amethyst asked worriedly.

Rose wobbled then fell to her knees. The gems all rushed to her.

"Are you injured?" Garnet asked, unnerved by how frail Rose appeared.

Rose looked up to the gems. Words could not describe the hurt she felt. She blamed herself for everything that had happened.  
She wondered if she had saved that child all those years ago, would he have had to suffer such a fate?  
Rose looked at her hands, they were stained with blood; human blood.  
She had broken the highest taboo of the crystal gems. She killed a human.  
Rose buried her face in her hands and began to cry.  
The gems knelt and embraced her. Rose was not just their leader, she was their friend.  
Her joy was their joy, and her pain was their pain.


	6. Chapter 6 : A Mother's Sacrifice

Chapter 6

* * *

After the 1991 "Burner" incident, most of the people who had lived in Beach City decided that they had had enough, packed up, and left. Due to budget cuts, the small military base was relocated further inland. The military did not cooperated as much with the gems in the following years. As the years went on, more and more people would drift away from Beach City. The area around the collapsed mine was avoided by the remaining citizens out of fear of the lingering radiation. The gems continued with their task of protecting humanity, but things were never quite the same. Rose never fully recovered from her encounter with the unholy statue, nor did she ever forgive herself for the mercy killing of the former human.

She never spoke about what had transpired within the bowels of the mine. The gems never asked her out of respect but knew that it had changed their once proud leader into a shade of her former glory. Her movements seemed sluggish compared to the other gems. When in combat, Rose never used her sword again. While not in combat, she would spend hours in the temple archives going through centuries of recorded human and crystal gem history. She had discovered that many of the crystal temples that once protected the planet were missing, with their resident gems unaccounted for. It was becoming apparent that the age of the crystal gems was finally coming to an end. Without the crystal gems, mankind would be at the mercy of the many crystal entities that roamed through the void of space. With everything looking darker and darker by the day, Rose began to believe that all the good in the world was gone. That is, until she met a traveling musician named Greg Universe.

It happened so fast for both of them. On a whim, Rose decided to drop in during one of his concerts. As it turned out, she was the only attendee. Rose had met many extraordinary men in her life. Galileo, Washington, Beethoven, even Franklin D. Roosevelt; none of them made her feel the way Greg did. When they were together, Rose felt the warmth she once had return to her. He always knew how to make her laugh. For the first time in years, Rose was truly happy. For the first time in her life, she felt completed.

Greg didn't understand what Rose could possibly see in someone like him. He was fat, short, and balding. But could never deny the love that he felt for her. Greg had never been the same since returning from Vietnam. But with Rose, everything felt right again. She was an angel and he would give everything to be with her. For four years, the two would meet in secret. Rose did not want the gems to know about her and Greg's relationship. She felt that they would either not understand or not approve. One night,within the heat of loving passion, Rose and Greg eloped, and in doing so, changed the world forever.

When she finally told the crystal gems about her and Greg's secret relationship, the gems were all stricken with a torrent of emotions. They were happy that Rose was finally happy again. They were upset that she had kept it a secret. Above all, they were afraid of what might happen to her. No other gem had ever eloped with a human before. Everything seemed to going back to the way thing were before. They would go on missions together. They would have fun together. Rose seemed to be back to her old self, smiling and laughing like she used to. But the good times were not to last. Rose began to feel very ill. Her natural glow was fading, her powers started to fail, and her gem was becoming dull. Rose was pregnant. Then on September 10, 2001, Rose went into labor.

* * *

The sky was dark as a storm slammed the city. Within the safety of the temple, Rose was fighting just to stay alive. She wanted to live long enough to make sure that her baby drew it's first breath. Greg held her hand and gave her loving words of support while Pearl aided with the birthing. Garnet and Amethyst did whatever they could to help, running back and forth with water and towels. Rose's gem flashed with each contraction, each coming quicker and stronger. Rose was growing weaker and weaker by the minute.

"Greg...my love?" she panted weakly, reaching for his hand. His heart breaking and eyes swelling with tears, Greg held her hand tightly.

"I'm here," he said in a soft voice. "I'll always be here."

Rose smiled and looked to Garnet.

"Take care of the gems," she stated in between breaths.

Her lips quivering, Garnet bowed her head.

"I will not fail you, Rose."

Suddenly, another contraction struck Rose. She screamed in pain, the baby was almost ready.

"Pearl, Amethyst!" she cried out.

Pearl rushed to her side along with Amethyst.

"We're here for you!" Pearl exclaimed, her heart racing.

"Yeah, we aren't going anywhere!" Amethyst said firmly.

"Both of you...watch over my child for me," Rose panted, her vision fading. "Raise my child as if it were your own. Teach it it's gem heritage."

"W-we will Rose, we-" Pearl burst into tears, overwhelmed with everything that was happening. Amethyst embraced Pearl and comforted her, tears flowing from her eyes as well.

"Y-yeah, we'll take care of the little scamp for ya," she said with a quiver in her voice.

Rose smiled softly. She felt blessed to have had such wonderful friends. She was going to miss them dearly. She prayed for their safety and for the safety of her child. Her gem started flicker rapidly as her heart started flatlining. With her last breath, Rose's gem flashed with an intense bright light. Everyone had to shut their eyes, it was like staring into the sun. The light could be seen from outside the temple by those who came to witness the birth.  
When the light had faded, Rose was gone, and in her place was a crying baby boy.

"Rose...?" Greg rasped, his heart in pieces.

Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were struck silent. Their loved leader was dead. Pearl began to sob uncontrollably. Amethyst tried her best to hold her tears back, but soon found herself clinging to Pearl with tears flowing.

"She is...gone," Garnet rasped, trying to not sound as destroyed as she really was. "Rose gave up her existence to give her child life..."

Pearl tenderly picked the child up, cleaned him, then handed him over to his father. Greg held his child closely, tears steadily running down his face.  
The baby gave little laugh and reached for Greg's nose.

"H-hey there little guy," Greg crooned softly. "Welcome to Earth."

The gems gathered around him to see the baby. Pearl smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"He has his mother's gem," she whispered happily, pointing to the gem on his belly. The baby yawned loudly which made everyone coo with amusement.

"Awww, he takes after his dad," Amethyst chuckled.

"What is his name, Greg?" Garnet asked the long silent father. Greg smiled and pressed the child's forehead gently against his.

"Steven, Steven Quartz Universe."

Nobody slept that night. The gems had just lost the one thing that had held them together for hundreds of years.  
Their future was now more uncertain than ever before. Despite all of the new challenges that they now had to face without Rose, the crystal gems now had one ultimate task that they could not allow themselves to fail. They had to raise, educate, and protected Steven; the first human crystal gem.  
Unfortunately, the Rose's death and Steven's birth would go largely unnoticed. For another tragedy was about to change the world that Steven would live in forever.


	7. Chapter 7 : Grieving Towers Part 1

Chapter 7

*_Sorry if this chapter hits too close to home_*

* * *

Shrill cries echoed through the crystal temple, rousting the exhausted Pearl from the little slumber she had gotten.

"Ohhh, please tell me he isn't hungry again," she groaned tiredly. "How much formula can one baby drink?" Pearl left her room and briskly walked into the living room. She checked the clock; it read that it was eight o'clock in the morning.

"Amethyst, it's your turn to feed Steven!" Pearl hollered. Amethyst came shuffling out of the kitchen with Steven wailing in her arms.

"We're out of formula," she responded with a yawn. "Greg went to go buy some more like, twenty minutes ago." Pearl sighed and held her arms out to Amethyst.

"I'll take over for now," she stated tiredly. "You go and rest."

Amethyst smiled and passed Steven off to her.

"Thanks, P. Oh, and be careful, he's a hair puller."

Amethyst then plopped face first on the couch, leaving Pearl to care for Steven. Pearl gently rocked Steven back and forth, humming softly. With a tiny yawn, Steven finally fell asleep. A loud snore confirmed that Amethyst was asleep as well. Pearl sat down on the other end of the couch. She smiled, Steven looked so peaceful. Pearl sat with him cradled in her arms. Rose had always told Pearl that she would have been a good mother. Pearl couldn't deny it, Steven was going to need a mother figure.

"Is he asleep?"

Pearl jolted in surprise, the voice caught her off guard. She calmed the moment she realized that the voice was Garnet's.

"Oh, it's you, Garnet. You startled me," Pearl chuckled nervously. "And yes, Steven is asleep, finally."

"I can take over if you're too tired," Garnet stated flatly. Pearl shook her head.

"I'm alright, Garnet," she replied, looking down at the soft, warm bundle in her arms that was Steven.

"More importantly, how are you holding up, Garnet?" Pearl asked with concern in her voice.

"I'm fine," Garnet responded coldly. "All that matters is that Steven is safe."

Something in Garnet's voice ran chills down Pearl's spine. It was obvious that she was hurting from Rose's death. They all were, but Garnet would never admit it. They all were grieving in their own ways, and if Garnet wished to bottle up her emotions then that was her choice.

Suddenly, a loud banging on the door broke the silence, waking Steven in the process.

"Wha- who's there! I'll cut you," Amethyst mumbled half asleep. Pearl tried rocking the now wailing Steven back to sleep.

"That better be Greg," she growled bitterly. Garnet rushed to the door and opened it.

"Greg, what took you-"

"Something has happened," Greg exclaimed, pushing past Garnet, shoving the bag of groceries into her arms. Greg ran over to the living room, panting and covered with sweat. He began to feverishly search for the TV remote. Once he found it, he turned on the TV and began to flip through the channels.

"Greg, this is not the time for-"

"Shut up!" Greg snapped loudly, much to Pearl and Garnet's surprise. The loud commotion rousted the slumbering Amethyst.

"What's going on?" she yawned as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Greg flipped through the channels, growing more frantic and panicked. Steven was now wailing like an air raid siren.

"Greg Universe!" Pearl snapped. "What has gotten into-" Pearl went silent.

Greg had stopped on a breaking news broadcast. His arms went limp and the remote slipped from his hand. Garnet's mouth was opened in a silent gasp.  
Amethyst rubbed here eyes, praying that what she was seeing wasn't real.  
Pearl held Steven firmly against her, eyes wide and mouth quivering.

"No..."

The news broadcast was showing live footage from New York City. The World Trade Center had been attacked.

Ink black smoke bellowed out of the burning towers. Millions of paper documents slowly descended through the air.  
Innocent people who were stranded on the upper levels of the towers were leaping out of windows to avoid the slow and agonizing death that the hellish fires would insure. Fire trucks and police cars darted all around the streets below, trying to get other people to safety.  
The long silence was broken by Amethyst, who was starting to hyperventilate.

"No...no, not again!" she cried loudly, covering her ears to block out the reports. "It's gonna happen again! Just like before!"

Amethyst ran sobbing to her room. Pearl realized with horror that Amethyst was right. Pearl started having vivid flash backs.

_Smoke, fire, white sea foam clashing with seeping oil. The sound of burning ships and dying sailors were deafened by the roar of the Mitsubishi's propeller engines. Each plane bore the mark of the blood red sun. December 7, 1941. Pearl Harbor._

Garnet swallowed the lump in her throat. It was happening again, the wheels of war had began to turn. In her years on Earth, she had learned much about the nations of man. But none of them stood out to her as much as the United States had. Born from the fires of revolution. Torn apart by civil war, only to be made stronger once reunited. Earning her spot as a world power after the Great War. Rising as a superpower after fighting fascism in the Second World War. All of these accomplishments had taught Garnet something. Freedom is never free. America's people knew this better than anyone. America would always respond to any threat to her liberties or the liberties of others with great and powerful force. Garnet may not have known who was responsible for this attack, but she knew one thing was for certain. September 11, 2001 was a date that would live in infamy. America, the sleeping giant, had reawakened.


	8. Chapter 8 : Grieving Towers Part 2

Chapter 8

* * *

Greg's wristwatch chirped, it was now midnight. The temple was dark and still with the only light coming from the television. Greg could not believe what was happening. Everything was supposed to be better once Steven was born. He and Rose were supposed to live happily with Steven as a proper family. But Rose was dead, and the dull pounding of America's war drums were growing louder.

_ How long will this war last? _Greg though worriedly. He had seen the world at war and he didn't want Steven to grow up in that kind of world. The last thing he wanted to see was his son growing up only to be drafted into another world war.

The gem gate flashed brightly, then opened with a very stressed Pearl walking out. She had been consoling the terribly shaken Amethyst, who was convinced that the world was on the verge of a third world war. Pearl noticed that Greg was still awake, watching the news.

"How many?" she asked grimly.

"Three thousand dead," Greg answered sadly. "More than Pearl Harbor."

Pearl sighed sadly, she couldn't help but feel as if the attack was somehow their fault. The gems had taken an oath to protect humanity from unearthly threats, but they were forbidden to interfere with its personal conflicts. The oath stated that mankind had to forge their own history, and that the gems had no right to favor one nation over the others. Pearl still felt that the oath was fair as any conflict with the gems favoring one side would be unfair.

Pearl walked over and put her hands on Greg's shoulders. He looked up to her, his eyes were empty from loss and fear. He shut his eyes and sighed.

"Raise him here."

Pearl blinked in confusion.

"Excuse me?" she asked bewildered.

"Raise him here in the temple," Greg responded. "I want him to grow up away from all of this world's crap."

Pearl didn't know how to respond. Greg was the only family Steven had, and yet Greg wanted Steven raised away from him. Pearl knelt down to look him in the eyes.

"He is your son, Greg," she stated seriously. "He needs his father."

"He needs a mother more," Greg responded sadly. "And you're the closest thing to a mother that he has. It would be better if he grew up here anyway. I wouldn't make a good father, I'm just a screw up."

"That's not true, Greg," Pearl assured. "Rose always said what a good father you would be."

Greg stood up off the couch, his head hung low.

"Rose was wrong."

With that Greg walked to Steven's crib, kissed him on the forehead, and left. Pearl thought about going after him but decided it would be better not to.  
Rose's death had shattered Greg's heart, and the shock of the terrorist attack had lit a fire underneath what was left of it. Pearl figured that he was afraid that he might fail to protect Steven. Pearl yawned and turned off the television, she had had enough dread for one day. She tiptoed over to Steven's crib and peered into it. Steven was asleep, his tiny thumb in his mouth. He suddenly began to whimper and mewl in distress. He then woke up and started to cry. Pearl reached into the crib and tenderly picked him up. Pearl patted him gently on the back. Steven let out a small burp, but continued to cry. Pearl gently cradled him in her arms and gently rocked him back and forth, hoping he would stop crying.

"Shhh...no more tears," Pearl cooed softly. "Everything is alright."

The more she told Steven that everything was alright, the more she thought about her words.

"Everything...is alright."

Pearl in her tired and grief stricken mind had to a sudden realization; nothing was alright. Not with the gems, not with Beach City, and not with the whole world. As she rocked Steven to sleep, Pearl thought back over all the things she had witnessed. From World War Two, to World War One, and even further back to the Hundred Years' War. Humanity's history was stained with the blood and gore of their fellow man. The more she though about it, the more it upset her. Steven deserved to grow up in a world with out conflict. But Pearl knew that no such world existed.

A small snore broke Pearl from her thoughts. Steven had fallen asleep with his tiny fingers clinging to her. Pearl smiled and started to hum softly. At that moment, Pearl knew what she would do. If Steven couldn't be raised in a world without human conflict, then she would raise him without teaching him mankind's violent history. Garnet and Amethyst might not agree with her, but she would solve that problem later.

"Everything is alright, Steven," Pearl whispered softly with a smile. She was content with Steven growing up ignorant to much of his human history, so long as he remained untainted by it. To her, a violent history is best to be forgotten.

"Everything is alright, Steven. I'll keep you safe. No matter the cost."


	9. Chapter 9 : Is it Someone New?

Chapter 9

* * *

Time went on as it always had. From infant, to toddler, to pre-teenager, Steven grew up along side the gems. In time, they became his family.  
As he grew from infant to toddler, Pearl became more and more like his surrogate mother.  
She fed him, educated him, and when necessary bathed him.  
Amethyst became the older sister figure in Steven's life. She was the one who played, laughed, and got into trouble with him. Whenever Steven would have a bad dream, it was her who would comfort him. Pearl's new motherly attitude put a strain on the friendship she and Amethyst once had.  
This lead to frequent heated arguments between the two of them. The one who always had to end these fights was Garnet. Now the gem's de facto leader, Garnet had earned Steven's respect. After Rose's death, Garnet had become hardened to the world and slightly more aggressive in combat. She still managed to remain calm and level tempered when around Steven.

Greg turned out to be a great dad. He still wanted Steven to live with the gems, but the two would often hang out at Greg's car wash. When Steven was thirteen, he met a girl named Connie. The two became best friends after they had been trapped inside a magic bubble that Steven had accidentally summoned. Steven had a huge crush on her, but he would never admit it to her.

Even though he didn't know how to control his gem, Steven was still allowed to go on missions with the gems. Pearl often argued that he was too young or that it would be too dangerous. This upset him, but he never had a reason to doubt Pearl. She had taught him everything he needed to know. All in all, Steven's life was pretty great.

On October 3, 2013, the gems had gone on a mission and left Steven behind. He decided that he would past the time at his favorite hang out spot, The Big Donut. As Steven jogged from the temple, he began to think about how happy the gems would be if he brought them a box of donuts. With the giant donut shaped sign in sight, Steven picked up the pace. With a wide smile, Steven ran inside the shop.

"Hi Lars, hi Sadie!" he greeted happily.

"Hey, Steven," Sadie responded with a smile.

"Heyyy, Stevennn!" Lars mimicked mockingly, earning a elbow to the ribs from Sadie.

"The usual?" she asked, having grown familiar enough with Steve that she knew his favorite type of donuts.

"Yes please," Steven exclaimed joyfully. Sadie picked out Steven's donuts and piled them into a box.

"That will be $1.50," she stated, placing the box on the counter.

Steven reached into his back pocket were he always kept his money. His eyes went from shimmering with joy, to wide with terror. His money was gone. Steven had failed to notice the large hole in his pocket. His money had fallen out.

"My dough!" he exclaimed loudly. "It's gone!"

"Sorry Steven," Sadie said sadly. "You know the rules-"

"Yeah, no dough, no donuts!" Lars cackled meanly. Sadie growled and jabbed him in the arm.

Steven turned around and walked to the exit, his head hung low in defeat. As Steven reached for the door, it swung open as someone entered the store.

"Excuse me," the stranger stated as he pushed past Steven.

* * *

His stomach empty and his money gone, Steven moped his way to the docks, His footsteps made the sea washed wooden docks creek and groan. He sighed sadly, he really wanted to bring donuts back for the gems. He sat down at the edge of the docks and swung his feet aimlessly.

"Pants, you have failed me today," Steven stated bitterly. "Now Pearl will have to fix you."

As Steven moped, he noticed that the stranger from the donut shop was sitting on the opposite end of the dock with the box of heaven unopened. The stranger drank from a brown glass bottle as he looked over the water. The stranger looked at least slightly taller than Pearl, but not as tall as Garnet. He wore a long brown leather coat that had a fur lined high wraparound collar. The cuffs and the waist was also lined with fur. He also wore worn tennis shoes, faded jeans, and a pair of aviator sunglasses.

Steven began to scoot his way over to the stranger. In his immature mind, Steven figured that the stranger might want company or even share the donuts.

Once Steven was within spitting distance, the stranger opened the box and took out a donut. After licking his lips, the stranger bit into the pastry. Much to Steven shock and horror, the stranger retched and spat it out.

"Nasty," the stranger scowled, chucking the rest of the donut into the water. "Grandma made better..."

Steven's jaw dropped; who could hate the Big Donut's donuts? As she stranger wiped his hand against his mouth, he noticed the shell shocked Steven, his mouth still open. The stranger nudged the box towards Steven.

"You want em', kid?"

"Really?" Steven asked, his hopes rising. "You don't want them?"

The stranger shook his head.

"You look like you need em' more than I do."

Overjoyed, Steven picked up the box and picked up a donut. With a happy squeal, Steven savored his long desired pastry. The stranger shook his head, as if disappointed.

"Didn't your mama ever tell you not to talk to strangers?" he asked, pushing his sunglasses down from his eyes.

"I never knew my mom," Steven answered, his mouth covered in frosting and crumbs. The stranger frowned. With a sigh, he leaned back on his hands and looking up at the sky.

"It's tough, ain't it?"

Steven stopped and though for a moment.

"Yeah, but I've still got my dad, and the Crystal Gems."

"The Crystal Gems huh?" The stranger said with a raised eyebrow. He stood up and stretched, groaning loudly as he did so. He tossed the empty bottle into the water.

"What's your name, kid?"

"My name is Steven Universe!" he answered proudly, striking a superhero like pose. "What's your name?"

The stranger chuckled with a smile.

"Names' Tibbets, just Tibbets."


	10. Chapter 10 : Steven's Homework

Chapter 10

* * *

After the two had met on that October afternoon, Steven and Tibbets would often hang out at the docks. Steven would tell him stories about his adventures with the crystal gems and Tibbets would humor Steven in a big brother kind of way. Though Steven often urged Tibbets to meet the crystal gems, Tibbets always dismissed this idea. He would simply say that he was already familiar with the gem's work. While they did hang out frequently, they never hung out for more than an hour. Tibbets said that he had work waiting for him back home. Never the less, the two were becoming good friends.

* * *

It was seven o'clock in the morning; breakfast time. Being the only one that actually needed food, Steven usually ate breakfast alone. Not that he could complain. That just meant more of Pearl's cooking for himself. She was the only gem in the temple that could cook, so she was the one who always fixed Steven his meals.

Pearl hummed merrily as she flipped Steven pancakes.

"Steven, your breakfast is ready!" she hollered up to his room.

The dull thudding of Steven's foot steps told Pearl that he had heard her call.

"Alright, pancakes!" he exclaimed joyfully. "Thanks Pearl!"

Pearl watched with satisfaction as Steven devoured the stack of fluffy, syrup drenched pancakes. As he ate, Pearl couldn't help but notice that he had brought down his cheeseburger backpack.

"Are you going somewhere Steven?" she inquired as she cleaned up the kitchen. Steven hungrily swallowed a mouthful of pancake then washed it down with a glass of milk.

"I'm going to meet my new friend," he answered, his mouth covered in syrup.

"Oh, a new friend?" Pearl asked sweetly, she was always happy when Steven made friends. "What's their name?"

"His name is Tibbets," Steven responded, wiping the syrup from his mouth.

"Does Tibbets have a last name?" Pearl asked, her eyebrow raised inquisitively.

"Nope, just Tibbets," Steven answered bluntly.

Pearl couldn't help but think how odd it was that Steven's new friend didn't have a last name.

"Steven, how long have you known Mr. Tibbets?" Pearl asked with suspicion.

"About a week," Steven answered bluntly. "We're bros."

Pearl couldn't help but feel a tad bit suspicious of Steven's new friend. She was always worried about Steven's safety.

"Are you going to introduce the rest of us to Mr. Tibbets?" she asked. She couldn't deny it, his name was fun to say. Steven hopped down from his chair and took his plates to the sink.

"Eventually," he stated. "I've told him about the gems, but he doesn't seem too interested in meeting you guys."

Pearl felt offended. Who wouldn't want to meet the crystal gems?

"Well, you tell Mr. Tibbets that I am very interested in meeting him," Pearl said with a forced smile. Steven smiled and nodded his head.

"I will Pearl," Steven said with a wide smile. "Welp, I'm Oscar Mike!"

Pearl's eyes widened with shock. Steven had just used a military term. Before she could stop and ask him where he had heard that term, he was already out the door.

Steven ran as fast as his short legs could take him. It was foggy and cold. Steven ran until he reached the docks. Sitting with his feet dangling of the docks was Tibbets. He sat and stared out into the, lost in thought.

"Hey, Tibbets!" Steven shouted waving his arms.

Tibbets turned his head and lowered his sunglasses.

"Hey, kid," he greeted. "Isn't it a bit early for you to be out here?"

Steven chuckled and sat down next to Tibbets. He opened his backpack and withdrew a plastic baggy filled with precooked bacon strips that he had brought from home.

"Are you hungry?" Steven asked, smiling happily. "I snagged these from Amethyst when she wasn't looking."

Tibbets snickered and helped himself to one of the strips of bacon.

"Thievery? I think I'm becoming a bad influence on you, kid," he stated sarcastically while he chewed.

Steven laughed and ate some of the bacon himself.

"Amethyst is always taking my food," he stated dismissively. "She wont miss them."

Tibbets smiled, he had to admit it, Steven may have been a kid, but he was alright.

"That was good," he sighed while patting his stomach. "Who made it?"

"Pearl made it," Steven responded, stuffing the empty bag into his pocket. "She makes all of my meals."

"Is Pearl like, your step mom or something?" Tibbets asked.

"No, she is just a really good friend," Steven replied. "She sometimes acts like my mom though. It gets annoying sometimes."

Tibbets shivered and vigorously rubbed his hands over his arms to get warmer.

"Now I know how my grandpa felt in Bastogne," he stated with a bitter shiver.

Steven looked to Tibbets with a curious look in his eyes.

"What's Bastogne?" he asked.

"You know, The Battle of the Bulge," Tibbets answered. "My grandpa was a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division back in World War Two. The Screaming Eagles!"

Steven stared blankly at Tibbets.

"What's World War Two?" he asked.

Tibbets took off his sunglasses and stared intensely at Steven, hoping that Steven was joking.

"How old are you, kid?" he asked with worry in his voice.

Steven suddenly felt as though he had said something he shouldn't have.

"Uhh... thirteen," he stated nervously.

"And you don't know what World War Two is?" Tibbets asked, still not breaking eye contact.

"Yes?" Steven responded doubtfully.

"What about World War One?" Tibbets asked. "You know what that is ?"

"No," Steven answered nervously.

Tibbets shook his head and stood up. He reached into his messenger bag and pulled out a book.

"Unacceptable," he stated hotly. "Everyone your age ought to know at least the basic facts about both of those wars. What are they teaching kids in school these days?"

"I'm home schooled," Steven responded with his hand raised. "Peal is sort of my teacher."

A contempt look formed on Tibbets face.

"Tell Pearl that her history course is severely lacking," he stated bitterly. He then handed Steven the book. Steven read the title of the book, 'The War to End All Wars.'

"Aw man, you're giving me homework?" he whined in disappointment.

"It's for your own good and for my peace of mind," Tibbets responded. "If you finish reading it, I'll get you a prize."

Steven suddenly felt childlike excitement fill his mind.

"Really, a prize?" he asked eagerly.

"Yep, just finish reading the book," Tibbets responded. " You shouldn't get too bored with it. It's got pictures."

Tibbets checked his watch, it was now nine thirty in the morning.

"Listen, kid, I got to get to work soon," he stated. "How bout' I walk you home?"

Steven smiled and nodded his head.

"Can I introduce you to the gems?" he asked.

"Not today, kid," Tibbets responded shaking his head. "Maybe someday."

With his friend following close behind him, Steven started to march home. Tibbets smiled, the kid certainly had character. Tibbets started to whistle to past the time. His whistling turned to humming. Then his humming turned into singing.

He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright,

_ He checked all his equipment and made sure his pack was tight;_

_ He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar,_

_ You ain't gonna jump no more!_

Steven looked back towards Tibbets with stars in his eyes.

"I didn't know you liked to sing!" he exclaimed.

Tibbets smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"It's just an old song my grandpa learned in the war," he stated with a sense of pride.

"Keep singing, keep singing!" Steven urged. "I love learning new songs!"

"Alright, kid, keep your shirt on."

Tibbets cleared his throat then continued with the song his grandfather had taught him.

_ Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,_

_ Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,_

_ Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,_

_ He ain't gonna jump no more!_

"More, more, keep going!" Steven begged. "This is fun!"

Tibbets smiled, Steven was the first person who actually wanted to hear his songs.

_ He counted long, he counted loud, he waited for the shock,_

_ He felt the wind, he felt the cold, he felt the awful drop,_

_ The silk from his reserves spilled out, and wrapped around his legs,_

_He ain't gonna jump no more!_

Steven began to sing with Tibbets. He only knew chorus, but it was better than nothing.

_ Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,_

_ Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,_

_ Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,_

_He ain't gonna jump no more!_

Pearl was out on the patio practicing with her spear when she noticed the two come into view.  
For the first time, she finally got to see this 'Mr. Tibbets' for herself.  
She thought he look around eighteen years of age. His hair was brown and messy.  
She was unimpressed, what Steven saw in this boy was beyond her.

"Hey look, there's Pearl!" Steven exclaimed. "You think we got time for one more verse?"

Tibbets nodded his head and took a deep breath.

_ There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon the chute,_

_ Intestines were a-dangling from his paratroopers suit,_

_ He was a mess, they picked him up, and poured him from his boots,_

_He ain't gonna jump no more!_

Steven took in a breath and sang the final chorus with Tibbets.

_ Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,_

_ Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,_

_ Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,_

_ He ain't gonna jump no more!_

Both started laughing with joy once they finished their song.

"You know what, kid? You're alright," Tibbets chuckled happily. "Say hi to Pearl for me would ya'?"

"I will Tibbets," Steven exclaimed. "I'll see you later!"

"Yep, see ya', kid," Tibbets said with a salute. He then turned around and walked down the small trail that led back to town. Steven waved back before he turned and ran up the steps. Pearl stood at the door waiting for Steven.

"Hi, Steven," she greeted warmly. "Was that your friend Mr. Tibbets?"

"Yep," Steven answered bluntly as he moved past her and into the living room. Pearl followed him, she hadn't seen him this energetic in a while.

"Oh yeah, he told me to say hi for him," Steven stated as he took off his sandals.

"Well that was nice of him," Pearl said with a smile.

"He also told me to tell you that your history course is severely lacking."

Pearl felt a spark of anger inside of her. Who was he to judge her teaching method? Before she could make some witty comeback, Steven was running up to his room.

"Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die," Steven sang softly. "He ain't gonna jump no more."

Pearls eyes went wide and her pupils dilated with horror. She knew that song. That song was about the final fatal jump of a rookie paratrooper whose parachute failed to deploy. That song was an old war song.

_Where did he learn that from!?_ Pearl thought with panic. The dark hands of humanity's history had finally found her Steven. That was unacceptable. She racked her brain trying to think of where Steven could have heard that song. Then, it finally dawned on her.

"Tibbets."


	11. Chapter 11: The Old Barbed Wire

Chapter 11

* * *

Steven unzipped his backpack and pulled out the book Tibbets had lent him,

"You can do it, Steven," he assured himself. "Remember the prize."

He plopped himself on his bed and opened the book. It smelt musky and it's pages were turning yellow from age.

"How long can this book possibly be?" he asked himself. "I'll finish this in no time."

The first few chapters were dull and were full of political information that made little sense to him.  
It was all about the change in industry and conflicts between members of the royal families.

"Ugh...this is boring!" Steven exclaimed as he rolled over onto his back. He frowned and held the book up to his face.

"For the prize!"

* * *

As he read, the old book slowly began to win over his interest.  
His attention was finally hooked with a chapter that mentioned a man with the title of Archduke of Austria.  
Steven thought the title "Archduke" sounded cool, almost like a superhero name. As his child like expectations reached their peak, they were suddenly shattered.  
He read that on June 28, 1914 that Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were killed by a Serbian assassin in Sarajevo.  
Surprised at this new twist, Steven continued to read, now fully dedicated to the book. He read that following the assassination, the European nations began to call upon their allies and declare war on each other.

Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia who was allied with Russia.  
Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary.  
Germany declared war on Russia.  
The Ottoman Empire allied with Germany.  
Germany declared war on France.  
Great Britain declared war on Germany.

Everything seemed to get worse and worse as more nations went to war. Side had been taken, The Triple Entente versus the Central Powers.

"This is crazy," Steven exclaimed in disbelief. "How did I not hear about this?"

As he read further into the old book, he began to grow shaken. He read about the miles of trenches that scarred the land.  
The massive zeppelins that would bomb enemy cities. The clouds of poisonous gases that choked the winds.  
The term that stood out the most was "No Man's Land".  
If it weren't for the photos, he wouldn't have really understood what that term meant.  
Miles of blasted earth and tangled webs of barbed wire. Bodies littering the ground and ankle deep mud.  
He remembered a quote Garnet had let slip once during a mission.  
They had been fighting a crystal monster that had taken the form of a golem made of mud.  
After they destroyed the golem, the gems were all covered head to toe with mud.  
As they crawled out of the mud pit, Steven heard Garnet mutter, "Hell is not fire. Hell is mud."

Now Steven knew where she had heard that quote. Steven felt confused and for some reason, ashamed.

"There's no way this actually happened...right?"

* * *

For the next three days, Steven would take a few hours out of his schedule to read more of the book. The more he read, the more questions he had. He was very confused. Why had Pearl not covered this in her classes? If she was as old as she said she was, then surely she must have known about this 'Great War'.  
The more he though back to her classes, the more he felt like she had excluded things from his lessons. He never questioned her because he had not had any reason to doubt her. She was the one who had protected him, fed him, and cared for him.  
But as he read the last chapter of the book, he finally had a reason to confront her. Why had she not told him about a war that had cost over 37million lives?  
Those numbers were catastrophic.  
Why hadn't the gems stopped it?  
More importantly, why was Pearl trying to cover it up?

* * *

Steven felt the need to move, his legs felt restless. He hopped off his bed and went down the stares. He roamed around the house for a while, having finished the book he now had nothing to do with his spare time.

"I wonder what the prize Tibbets promised will be?" he asked himself thoughtfully as he laid on the couch. "Maybe a pair of sunglasses, or a cool coat like his."

As he thought more about his prize, he heard the faint hum of the warp pad activate followed by a flash of light.

"Steven, we're back!" Pearl hollered.

"Oh, cool, you guys are back!" he exclaimed. "It was lonely without you guys around."

"Why didn't you go hang out with your friend Tibbets?" Amethyst asked as she hopped down on the couch next to him. "He seems cool."

Steven shook his head and shrugged.

"He had work, besides, he doesn't feel like coming to the temple."

Amethyst frowned and crossed her arms.

"Weirdo."

"Amethyst, don't name call!" Pearl snapped. "Maybe Mr. Tibbets is just shy."

"Whatevs, P," Amethyst responded with her eyes rolling as she hopped off the couch. "I'll be in my room."

"Oh, before you all run off,I have a question," Steven stated loudly as he rolled off of the couch.

"What is it?" Garnet asked flatly.

"Yes, what's your question?" Pearl asked as well.

"Why didn't you guys ever tell me about this 'World War One'?"

The gems were silent. Amethyst rubbed her neck with a look of guilt. Pearl turned to Garnet for help, only to find the she was also unsure of what to do.

"I'm not touching this!" Amethyst exclaimed as she threw her hands in the air. "This is your two's department!"

Without another word, Amethyst stomped out of the room. An awkward silence fell over the room. Garnet for once, didn't know what to say.  
She nudged Pearl sharply towards Steven.

"You're his teacher," she stated accusingly.

Pearl's eyes darted around for some way out of the situation. Finding none, she had to give him an answer he would believe.  
She swallowed the lump in her throat and took a deep breath.

"Well, you see...that part of history is not relevant to you," Pearl said with a nervous smile.

"Why?" Steven asked bluntly.

"Well...you're half gem," Pearl answered. "We decided that it would suit you better if you knew more about your gem heritage rather than all that past violence."

"Why?" Steven asked again.

"Because, we thought you would be happier without knowing how violent your human heritage is."

"But what if I want to know about my human heritage?" Steven asked, growing slightly uncomfortable.

"Oh, Steven," Pearl sighed with a smile. She knelt down and put her hand on his shoulder.

"You're better off not knowing."

Something about Pearl's tone made shivers run down Steven's spine. He looked over at Garnet for her response. She turned her head and adjusted her shades, avoiding eye contact. Steven was unhappy with Pearl's answer, but he didn't show it. Pearl was the closest thing to a mother he ever had. The last thing he wanted was to ruin that relationship.

"Well...if you say so," he said in a hushed tone. "You guys only want what's best for me."

"That's right, now run along," Pearl responded as she shooed him off. Steven gave her and Garnet a quick hug and ran back up to his room.

* * *

Once they were sure Steven was out of earshot, Pearl began to panic.

"How did he find out?" she asked aloud. "What did we let slip?"

"Don't look to me for help," Garnet responded coldly. "You know I never agreed to keeping him in the dark."

"Then why did you go along with it?" Pearl snapped hotly.

"The same reason Amethyst did," Garnet answered. "We didn't want Steven to end up like his father. A hollow, broken shell."

"Well that still isn't going to happen to Steven. We need to find out how he is finding out about those pointless wars and put a stop to it. "Pearl stated firmly.

The two gems thought silently for a moment. There were a lot of places where he could have heard about the wars, but not many places where he could actually learn anything about them. After putting some serious thought on the matter, Pearl realized what they needed to do.

"I think it's time we invited Mr. Tibbets over for some tea."


	12. Chapter 12 : A for Effort

Chapter 12

* * *

It was a blustery day in Beach City. The tide was higher than usual and it washed against the shore with white foam. But, the it was sunny and warm as well.  
This day was special. Today was the day that Steven would get his reward from Tibbets.

* * *

As Steven ate his breakfast, he kept thinking about what Pearl had told him about him being better off not knowing about his heritage.  
He also wondered how Tibbets would react if he found out.

"He'll understand," Steven told himself as he ate his cereal. He just hoped that Tibbets would keep his promise and reward him for finishing the book.

After putting up his bowl, Steven grabbed the old book and shoved it into his backpack.

"I'm heading out guys!" he hollered as he slipped his backpack over his shoulder.

"Oh, Steven, there you are," Pearl stated happily as she entered the room. "Are you going to meet with Mr. Tibbets today?"

"Yep, he likes to watch the boats by the docks in the morning," Steven responded in a matter of factually tone.

"Well, when you see him, please tell him that the gems would love to get to know him better over some tea," Pearl said kindly.

Suddenly, Amethyst lept up in front of Steven, obstructing Pearl.

"Yeah, with some of those tiny sandwiches and other tasty stuff!" she exclaimed with a huge smile.

Steven felt conflicted. On one hand, he really wanted to introduce Tibbets to the gems.

On the other hand, Steven got the impression that Tibbets had no interest in meeting them.

"Well..."

Before he could finish his thought, Pearl handed him a white and pink frilled letter.

"Here's the invitation. Now run along while we set everything up," she stated in an eager tone. "Oh, there is so much to do."

"Okay...later guys," Steven said as he walked out the door, slightly befuddled.

* * *

As he made his way down to the docks filled with both excitement and anxiousness.

Excited because he was about to claim his reward.

Anxious because he was worried that Tibbets wouldn't accept the gem's invitation.

He really wanted for the gems to like Tibbets. As the docks came into view, Steven could see Tibbets setting next to a small foam cooler.

"Hey, Tibbets!" Steven shouted while waving.

Looking down his sunglasses, Tibbets turned and waved back.  
Steven rushed over to his friend as fast as his short legs could take him. He slid to a stop in front of Tibbets' cooler.

"Hey, kid," Tibbets greeted with a smile. "Did ya' finish the book?"

Steven unzipped his backpack and handed Tibbets the book.

"Yep, all the way through!" Steven exclaimed proudly. "Do I get my prize now?"

Tibbets shook his head then smiled mischievously.

"Pop quiz first," he stated. "Gotta' make sure you actually read it and aren't trying to pull the wool over my eyes."

"Awww...really, a quiz?" Steven moaned with disappointment.

"Yep, now first question," Tibbets stated raising his finger. "Who's death started the war?"

Steven rubbed his chin as he thought back to what he had read. He snapped his fingers once the answer popped in his head.

"Archduke Franz Ferdinand!" he exclaimed loudly.

"Archduke of...?" Tibbets asked inquisitively.

"Uhhh... Archduke of Austria!" Steven answered proudly.

"Good, next question. What countries made up the Central Powers and the Triple Entente?"

This was a tough one. Steven shut his eyes and though really hard.

"The Central Powers were..." he paused as the thought back. "Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire."

Steven stopped to take a breath.

"The Triple Entente was Britain, France, and Russia."

Tibbets clapped his hands together and rubbed them together.

"Alright kid-o, only one more question," he stated with a mischievous smile. "Are you ready?"

"Bring it!" Steven shouted confidently.

"Alright, last question," Tibbets said thoughtfully. "How many people were dead at the end of the war?"

Steven was silent. What kind of morbid question was that?

"Ummm...37million?" Steven answered hesitantly.

Tibbets put his foot on the cooler and pushed it over to Steven.

"Close enough," he said with a somber tone. "Here's your prize."

Steven lifted the lid off of the cooler and felt his heart rate spike. Sitting in the cooler was a pile of Cookie Cat ice cream sandwiches.

"Cookie Cat!" Steven squealed with joy, droll dripping from his mouth. "How did you know I liked these?"

Tibbets smiled and shrugged.

"I asked that girl Connie what she would get you," he stated as he pushed his sunglasses down his nose. "You two make a cute couple."

Steven turned beet red which sparked laughter from Tibbets.

"You like her don't you?" he asked between laughs. "Don't worry, your secret is safe." With a happy sigh, Tibbets sat down on the dock's edge.  
Steven sat down next to him. Both sat silently with the sound of the waves creating a peaceful ambiance.

"Hey, Tibbets?" Steven asked with a nervous tone.

"Yeah, kid?" he responded. "Something on your mind?"

"Well...you see...the gems really want to meet you, and-" Steven paused as he tried to come up with the proper words.

"And?" Tibbets asked with a raised eyebrow.

"They invited you over for some tea at the temple," Steven said as he handed Tibbets the invitation.

Tibbets held the invitation up to the light, then sniffed it. It smelt oddly sweet and flowery.

For reasons unknown to him, Tibbets felt that he needed to stay away from the temple.

He didn't understand why, it was just a gut feeling that he shouldn't go near it.

But as he held the invitation in his hand, he suddenly felt a sharp ringing in his ears. He then looked down to Steven and smiled.

"Sure, why not?"

Steven's face lit up with a huge smile.

"Really, you'll come?" he asked hopping in place with pent-up excitement.

Tibbets took the invitation and stuffed it in his coat.

"I'm a man of my word," he said with a shrug. "Besides, I'm off work, and I haven't eaten today. So tea sounds nice."

Without another word, Steven grabbed Tibbets by the sleeve of his coat and started to pull him.

"Come on, come on, the gems can't wait to meet you!" he burst with childish excitement.

"Watch the coat, kid," Tibbets chuckled. "Everyone knows where the temple is."

While the two briskly walked down the boardwalk, Steven kept telling Tibbets about some of the things he and the gems had gone through together.  
He told Tibbets about their journey to the Lunar Sea Spire, about his pet lion, and about the time he nearly aged to death.

"So what, are you immortal or something?" Tibbets asked.

Steven shook his head.

"No, I haven't really figured out the whole aging thing yet," he admitted. "And as far as I know, I can still be killed."

Steven felt a firm pat on his back.

"I'm sure you'll find out. One way or another."

"What's that mean?" Steven asked with concern in his voice.

Tibbets was quiet for a moment before he responded.

"Forget about it," he said dismissively. "It's nothing.

* * *

After walking for a another few minutes, the steps to the crystal temple came into view.  
Steven began running up the steps with Tibbets following slowly behind him. Tibbets was nervous, the kind of nervousness one feels before a storm.  
He didn't know why and decided it was nothing.

Steven practically burst through the temple doors and ran inside.

"We're here!" he yelled with his hands cupped around his mouth. He turned around and noticed that Tibbets was standing in front of the door way with a blank expression.

"Tibbets?" Steven asked."

Tibbets ears rang some more. He shook his head and stepped into the temple. He looked around and whistled with impression.

"So you live here, with the gems?" he asked as he looked over the house. "It looks bigger on the outside."

The sliding screen door suddenly slide open, which startled Tibbets. Walking lithely unaware into the room was Pearl.  
She let out a startled gasp once she realized she wasn't alone.

"Oh, Steven, you're early," she said with a embarrassed chuckle.

"Hi, Pearl," Steven said happily. "Pearl, this is-"

"Tibbets," he answered before Steven could finish.

"So, you're this friend Steven keeps telling us about," Pearl stated happily. "Oh, but where are my manners? I haven't introduced you to the others."

Pearl pranced to the screen door and stuck er head out.

"Our guest has arrived!" she announced in an almost singing voice.

One by one Garnet and Amethyst walked into the room. Tibbets felt a tugging on his coat sleeve and looked down to see Steven pointing at the three women.

"Tibbets, allow me to introduce you to-"

"Garnet," she stated with a powerful pose.

"Amethyst!" she exclaimed with a flip of her hair.

"Pearl," she stated with a curtsey.

"And Steven but you already know me..." Steven exclaimed then deflated with disappointment that he didn't get to introduce himself with the other.

"We are the Crystal Gems!" all four announced proudly, each striking a different pose.

Tibbets pushed his sunglasses down from his eyes, his eyebrow raised.

"Impressive," he stated with a smirk. " Well, it's nice to finally meet you, Crystal Gems."

Amethyst frowned, she didn't like his tone.

"Oh, right, Garnet, Amethyst, this is Tibbets," Steven announced as he gave a presenting pose with his hands.

Garnet walked up to Tibbets and held out her hand.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," she stated flatly with a small smile.

Tibbets hesitated, then took her hand and shook it. Garnet's hand felt like needles were being stuck into her. She calmly broke from the handshake.

"Like wise," he replied calmly.

"Yeah, you're a lot taller than Steven let on," Amethyst said with her usual toothy smile. "You're almost a tall as Garnet."

Before Tibbets could respond, Pearl clapped her hands together.

"Well, Mr. Tibbets, would you care for some tea?" she asked sweetly. "Maybe we can take this time to get to know each other a little better."

Tibbets winced as his ears rang again. He then popped his neck, licked his teeth, then smiled.

"Tea sounds...delightful," he stated in a flat tone.

Garnet felt a chill run down her spine. There was an almost unnoticeable coldness in his voice that wasn't present when he had spoken earlier.

"Well then if you could come with me," Pearl beckoned for Tibbets to follow her. "We have everything set up out on the patio."

Steven, Tibbets, and Amethyst followed her out to the patio. Garnet lingered behind, staring at the hand that Tibbets had touched.  
Her instincts told her that there was danger, but was too faint to pinpoint. She couldn't see it, smell it, but it felt familiar.

"Garnet?" Pearl asked. "Are you going to join us?"

"I'll be out momentarily," she stated flatly.

Garnet had a lurking suspicion that this tea party not going to go as planned.


	13. Chapter 13 : Tea With the Gems

Chapter 13

* * *

Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven were all sitting around a glass table with their guest, Tibbets.  
Set out before them were several silver plates and saucers with ornate cookies and finger sandwiches.  
An ivory white tea pot sat in the center of the table with matching tea cups.  
Basically, a stereotypical tea party. Everyone felt on edge and no one was talking.  
To break up the awkward silence, Pearl decided to take the initiative and try to start a conversation.

"Ahem, would you like some more tea, Mr. Tibbets?" she asked kindly as she held up the tea pot.

"Yes, ma'am," Tibbets responded with a nervous smile as he raised his tea cup. He couldn't remember the last time he had been so uncomfortable.  
Being a recluse, he had always tried to avoid social situations, if anyone could call a group of people quietly sipping tea social.

"So, Tibbets," Pearl said while she stirred the tea in her cup. "What do you do for a living?"

"I work odd jobs around town," he responded. "Clean the floors here, lay tile there. It's not much, but it's a living."

He took a few of the cookies, crumbled them, then dumped the crumbles in his tea. Instead of sipping his tea, Tibbets drank his in big gulps.

_Figures, no table manners,_ Pearl thought irritated as she sipped her tea properly.

Amethyst could tell that Tibbets was getting under Pearl's skin, and she loved it. Finally, there was someone who could annoy Pearl without trying.  
She bit her bottom lip to stifle her snickering.

Still uneasy, Garnet was sitting quietly, her eyes hidden behind her shades.  
It didn't bother him a first, but Garnets silence and stone like face slowly made Tibbets feel uncomfortable. He leaned to Steven who was sitting next to him.

"Is she always this quiet?" he whispered in Steven's ear.

"Who, Garnet?" Steven asked loudly, much to Tibbets' dismay.

"What about me?" she asked flatly.

"Nothing...nice shades," Tibbets responded with embarrassment in his voice.

"Thanks," Garnet replied as she adjusted them.

Tibbets coughed then sniffled.

"More tea please," he asked.

"Me too!" Amethyst exclaimed loudly with a mouth full of half chewed mini-sandwiches.

"Amethyst, please don't talk with your mouth full!" Pearl stressed as she recoiled with disgust.

Tibbets raised his hand.

"Quick question, why do you gems eat if you don't need to?" he asked. "It seems just kind of pointless."

"Cuz' its fun!" Amethyst blurted loudly.

Pearl shook her head and sighed.

"It's true, we don't require food to survive," Pearl stated in a matter of factly tone. "But, we still enjoy it."

"So you don't feel hunger?" Tibbets asked inquisitively.

"We do not," Garnet answered flatly.

Tibbets leaned back in his seat with a smirk.

"That must be nice," he stated flatly.

The gems were unsure what to think of Tibbets. He seemed nice enough, but he asked a lot of odd questions.

"Sooo...Tibbets, how long have you lived in Beach City?" Amethyst asked hoping to get more information.

"I've lived here for about...three years...I think," he answered, somewhat unsure himself. "I like to keep to myself."

"Do you have any siblings or any other family living here as well?" Pearl asked as she poured herself more tea.

Tibbets ears rang again, he paused and licked the tea from his lips.

"Not anymore," he said with a bitter frown. "Never knew my mother, and my father died a week after my birth, or so I've been told."

Everyone fell silent, the friendly atmosphere had suddenly become thick with sorrow.

"I am so sorry," Pearl stammered with remorse.

"Don't be," Tibbets responded coldly. "I turned out just fine without them."

Amethyst raised her hand.

"If your parents died, then who raised you?" she asked in an unintentionally disrespectful tone.

"Amethyst!" Pearl snapped hotly.

"I'm just askin' him a question!" Amethyst retorted.

"My uncle did," Tibbets answered as if the topic was one that he had grown use to. "Well, until he died of thyroid cancer." he paused as he sipped his tea.

"After that, I lived with my grandparents until I was sixteen. As far as family goes, those two were the closest thing to parents I ever had. But, old father time finally caught up to them. Tried to go to college, but that was too rich for my blood. So I guess you could call me a drifter."

"His grandpa was a Screaming Eagle!" Steven blurted out loudly. " He fought in Bastoon!"

"It's pronounced _Bastogne_," Tibbets corrected as he ruffled up Steven hair in a big brother kind of way. "And yeah, he did back in World War Two"

Pearl squinted her eyes slightly. All of her patience and waiting had paid off.

_I knew it!_ She thought proudly.

"About that, what started World War Two?" Steven asked with genuine interest. "Wasn't World War One meant to be the war to end all wars?"

Tibbets let out a sigh and straightened his posture.

"That kind of question can't be answered in one sentence, kid. But, if you want, I could lend you some books that cover the basics."

"Really?" Steven asked with stars in his eyes.

"Sure," Tibbets answered with a smile. "My grandpa left me all kinds of books and DVDs. If you want, I could-"

"Ahem, Steven, could you go check on Lion?" Pearl asked as sweetly as she could. "You know how he gets when he is left alone."

"Oh-my-gosh, how could I've been so rude?" Steven asked aloud, slapping his forehead. "I haven't introduced Tibbets to Lion!"

Steven hopped out of his chair, and grabbed a plate of mini-sandwiches.

"I'll be back," he said with a smile as he ran back into the house.

* * *

Once Steven was out of ear shot, Tibbets let out a chuckle.

"He's a good kid," he stated with a grin. "You three have done good raising him."

"Thank you," Pearl beamed with pride. "He certainly was a handful as a child."

"I'm sure he was," Tibbets chuckled friendlily.

"Speaking of Steven," Pearl stated calmly. "There is something we, the gems, wish to make clear."

Tibbets raised his eyebrow and leaned back in his chair.

"What is it?" he asked, sensing something was off.

"Well, Steven is not like you," Pearl stated while she set her tea cup down. "He is half gem."

"So?" Tibbets asked flatly.

"So we have been raising him as a gem should be raised; by teaching him his gem heritage," Pearl responded with hidden irritation. "With that being said, he knows more about gem history than your kind's."

"If there's a point, please get to it," Tibbets stated bluntly.

Pearl eyebrow twitched with pent up anger.

"The point is that human history is far too...extreme for him to handle. For his own protection, we have excluded certain unpleasantries from his teachings, and we would appreciate it if you would refrain from informing him about them."

Pearl ended her statement with a forced smile. "I hope you understand."

Tibbets leaned forward in his seat. He removed his sunglasses and revealed the bright green daggers that hid behind them.

"So, your keeping the boy in the dark?" Tibbets spoke in a low and threatening voice. "I take it that human history is one of those 'unpleasantries' that you three decided were unfit to be taught?"

Pearl sat silently as she glared at Tibbets with her piercing blue gaze. Garnet positioned herself behind Tibbets to act as a visual deterrence.  
Amethyst rose from her seat, she wanted nothing to do with the situation.

"To put it simply, yes," Pearl answered in an icy voice. Both kept their eyes locked on each other.

"What gives you the right to deny the boy his history?" Tibbets asked bitterly.

"We need no right," Pearl responded coldly. "It's for his own good."

"Spoken like a true fascist," Tibbets hissed. " If the boy wants to know what he truly is, then he needs to know both halves of his heritage. And when he asks me about it, I'll tell him everything he wants to know. Down to the last detail."

"I wont allow it!" Pearl finally snapped angrily as she sprang from her chair. "You will tell him nothing!"

Both Pearl and Tibbets' faces were practically touching they were so close. Anger seethed in both of their eyes.

Tibbets' ears rang again, this time the ringing was followed by a nose bleed. Red droplets dripped onto the table.

"How would you stop me? Your oath won't allow you to harm me, remember?"

Pearl felt her blood run cold. Only the crystal gems were supposed to know about the oath. She hated to admit it, but he was right.  
They could inflict no harm to him as he was a mere human. Tibbets grabbed his tea cup and inhaled the steam rising off of it.

"Sir Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea," he paused to savor the look of confusion and anger on Pearl's face. "Madam, if I were your husband, I would drink it."

He then slowly poured the tea out onto the ground, leaving a small puddle.

"Thanks for the poison," he hissed with venom dripping off of every word.

As he turned to leave, his ears rang again.

"Out of my way, gem!" he growled as he pushed past Garnet.

The moment the two touched, Garnet felt an intense burning pain tear through her gem stones and up her arms.

* * *

"Hey, Pearl," Steve hollered from inside the house. "Lion didn't like the sandwiches so-" he stopped as he saw Tibbets storming off to the front door.

"Hey, Tibbets, where are you going?"

Tibbets turned back with a look that Steven hadn't seen on him before; the look of anger.

"Home," he spat. "I knew this was a bad idea!"

With that, Tibbets slammed the front door. Confused and frightened, Steven ran out to the patio.

"What happened?!" he asked desperately. "You were all getting along so well when I-"

Garnet suddenly fell to her knees and started to vomit.

"Garnet!" all three exclaimed in shock as they rushed to aid her.

Garnet's insides felt like they were burning. She writhed as every fiber of her being cried out in anguish. Here eyes darted in every direction, as if she was seeing things the others couldn't.

"Make it stop!" she cried out as she tried to cover her eyes from whatever terror she was seeing.

"Garnet, what's wrong?!" Pearl shouted as she, Amethyst, and Steven tried to hold her down.

"Snap out of it!" Amethyst shouted as she strained to keep Garnet's arms from flailing.

With her gem stones flashing sporadically, Garnet sent Amethyst flying through the screen door with a powerful right hook.  
With foam spilling from her mouth, Garnet started to claw at her eyes, mainly her third one.  
Pearl pressed down onto Garnet's arms and tried to keep her from hurting herself. Amethyst came rushing back out of the house and lept on top of Garnet.  
Using all of their strength, the two gems held her down.

"Garnet, please, speak to us!" Pearl cried out desperately.

Garnet's eyes suddenly locked on to Pearl. Through the foam in her mouth, Garnet managed to gargle something out before she passed out.

"Buuurrrnnneeerrr..."


	14. Chapter 14 : What Burns that isn't Fire?

Chapter 14

* * *

Six days had passed since the catastrophe that was the tea party. Six days since Pearl and Tibbets had locked horns.  
Six days since Garnet had fallen gravelly ill with an unknown affliction.

Six days, and Garnet had shown no signs of recovery. Her symptoms, while not as extreme as they had been during the first few hours of infection, were more than enough to keep her in an almost comatose state.  
Her gems stones would blink dimly whenever she tried to move. Her skin had lost much of it's color and had become sensitive to the point that even the slightest touch would bruise her. While Pearl and Amethyst tore through the library for answers, Steven did what he could to make Garnet comfortable.

Neither Pearl nor Amethyst had any idea what was wrong with their leader. The two worked day and night as they tried to find anything that could lead to a cure or treatment.

* * *

"There has to be something in one of these books!" Pearl exclaimed as she scoured through her crystal gem medical books.

"Find anything, P ?" Amethyst asked as she flipped through one of the many books piled up around her. "Cuz' I got nothing."

"No, none of her symptoms match up to anything in these books," Pearl stressed loudly. "But we have to keep looking."

Amethyst thought back to what Garnet had groaned out back after the tea party.

"Pearl, Garnet said the name 'Burner'," Amethyst stated in a worried tone. "You don't think that-"

"No, it couldn't be," Pearl interrupted in a panicky voice. "Rose destroyed them all."

"Yeah, but Garnet isn't the kind of girl who says things without meaning," Amethyst protested as she tossed her book and opened another from the stack next to her.

"We don't know what was going through her mind," Pearl responded as she opened another book. "The only thing that matters now is finding a way to cure her."

After flipping through the thirtieth book in a row, Pearl was starting to panic. Garnet's symptoms had shown no signs of improvement.  
There were only ever a few diseases that a gem could contract, and most of them had been wiped out.

"Ugh, this makes no sense!" Pearl cried out in frustration."Garnet's gems stones should have been able to neutralize any pathogen before it could set in and infect her."

Pearl rubbed her temples as she thought over all of Garnet's symptoms.  
Since the tea party, Garnet had been suffering from nausea and vomiting, severe headaches, a high fever, and seizures.  
The more Pearl though about the symptoms, the more they started to sound familiar.

"Amethyst, do you remember the incident with those molten metal creatures twenty-two years ago?" Pearl asked.

"Couldn't forget it if I tried," Amethyst answered grimly as the images of that day came back to her. "I still get nightmares about it. Why?"

Pearl ran over to another bookshelf and grabbed a human medical book.

"Then you remember that many of the soldiers that were not killed directly by those creatures later died from an illness," Pearl stated as she flipped through the book with a rapid pace.

"What are you getting at, P ?" Amethyst asked, her stomach lurching from the morbidity of the conversation.

Pearl ignored her question and kept flipping through the book.

"Do you remember what those monsters were made of?" she asked as the puzzle pieces fell into place before her.

"Yeah, they were made of Uranium," Amethyst answered, feeling that Pearl was really onto something.

"Correct," Pearl stated. "Rose told us that Uranium is very radioactive and that it can easily kill humans."

"So?" Amethyst asked with confusion. "Garnet isn't human, radiation can't kill her or us."

Pearl stopped flipping the pages and pointed to the title of the page.

"But Rose never said that crystal gems couldn't be irradiated."

The top of the page was titled "Acute Radiation Syndrome." The two gems took a moment to reflect and think.  
It made some sense as earth gem stones could be irradiated artificially to change their color.  
Even though Garnet wasn't a mindless earth rock, there was a chance that she too could become irradiated.  
The only question left was where Garnet could have come into contact with a source of radiation that was strong enough to afflict her, as a crystal gem could easily take double the amount of radiation that would be instantly fatal to a human. That would mean that the levels of radiation must have been extremely high.  
But if it was indeed radiation that was making Garnet sick, then why hadn't the others been affected as well?  
For Garnet to be the only one of them to fall ill was very unusual as such levels of radioactivity should have made them all sick.

"It still doesn't add up, but at least we have an idea whats wrong with her," Pearl sighed with distress.

"So how do we fix her?" Amethysts asked. "Cuz' I don't know jack about treating radiation."

Pearl began to fidget nervously, as if she was hiding something. Amethyst took notice of Pearl's odd behavior.

"Spill it, Pearl," she ordered with her arms crossed.

Pearl sighed and hung her head guiltily.

"I know how..."

* * *

Garnet was laid out on a futon in the living room. She was breathing heavily and her body was aching terribly.  
Steven ran a cool damp washcloth over her head hoping that he could ease her suffering. He had been by her side for six days straight.  
He hadn't slept and was also starting to feel weak.

"It's gonna be okay, Garnet," he said optimistically as he dabbed her forehead. "You're gonna be back on your feet in no time."

A dim glow in his peripheral vision alerted him to Pearl and Amethysts imminent arrival. Sure enough, the temple portal opened with Pearl and Amethyst rushing into the room.

"Pearl, Amethyst, have you-"

"Amethyst, get Steven out of here!" Pearl ordered firmly.

"On it!" Amethyst responded. "Let's go, Steven."

She grabbed Steven and ran to her room.

"What's the big idea?!" he protested as he was slung over Amethyst's shoulder. "I need to take care of Garnet!"

Amethyst's gem stone flashed and she tossed him into her room.

"No time to explain!" she answered as she hurried into her room and sealed the door behind her.

With Steven out of danger, Pearl could now work unhampered. She walked over besides Garnet and kneeled down.  
Pearl closed her eyes and began to mover her hands over Garnet's body. Her theory was then proven to be true, Garnet had been irradiated.  
Pearl could feel the alpha and beta particles as well as gamma rays surging through her friends body.  
Garnet's gemstones had been irradiated to unnatural levels and thus were keeping her from recovering.

"I hope this works," Pearl said aloud as she put her hands together in a prayer like pose.

Her gemstone began to glow bright like magnesium. She positioned herself over Garnet's face.  
Then, with her mouth only inches from Garnet's, Pearl began to slowly inhale.  
A black, smoky fog emanated out of Garnet's mouth and was slowly drawn into Pearl's.  
An intense burning sensation began to tear into Pearl's lungs as more of the irradiated cloud was drawn out of her friend's body.  
Slowly, Garnet's gemstones grew brighter and her skin began to regain it's color.  
Like drawing venom from a wound, Pearl was cleansing Garnet's body of the radiation.  
Pearl's ears began to ring loudly as the last of the irradiated particles were pulled out of Garnet's body.  
With the last of the particles burning in her lungs, Pearl held her breath.  
The ringing began to sound more like a loud siren in her head. Tears leaked out of her eyes as the irradiated particles attacked her body.  
She covered her mouth and nose as her lungs cried out for release.  
Suddenly, Pearl's gem stone flashed brightly.  
Slowly, Pearl exhaled. Instead of a black fog, Pearl exhaled a wispy cloud of shimmering white mist.  
Pearl had filtered and eliminated the irradiated particles within her body.  
Pearl's gem slowly dimmed back to it's normal state as she opened her eyes.  
She looked down at and found that Garnet was sleeping peacefully.  
Pearl ran her hands over Garnet again to make sure that all the radiation had been drawn out from her.

"Thank goodness, she's clean," she sighed with relief.

The sound of the Amethyst's door opening startled Pearl. Both Amethyst and Steven came rushing into the room.

"Whoa, how did you do that?" they both asked in unison. They had both watched the whole ordeal through a crack in the door.

Pearl smiled proudly and bowed her head.

"Rose taught me," she said wistfully. "She was the reason Beach City didn't turn into an irradiated wasteland. She purified the land at the cost of her own health."

Steven squeezed his way past Amethyst and ran to Garnet.

"Garnet, are you okay?!" he asked as he nudged her. Garnet's eyes flickered open. She grabbed Steven and pulled him into a powerful hug.

"The sirens.. they've finally stopped," she wept happily as she rubbed her forehead against Steven's.

"Uhh...Garnet, what sirens?" Steven asked as she held him.

Garnet paused and looked to the others.

"You couldn't hear them?" she asked, still visibly shaken. "They were deafening."

Pearl and Amethyst looked at each other with confusion on their faces.

"Garnet, you've been unconscious for six whole days," Pearl stated as calmly as she could. "There were no sirens."

Garnet sat silently as the reality of the situation became clear to her. She let go of Steven and summoned her shades.

"What was I sick with?" she asked in her normal flat toned voice.

"Well, that's the thing that doesn't make sense to us," Pearl answered. "You were suffering from radiation poisoning."

"Really?" Garnet asked with hidden surprise.

"I'm afraid so," Pearl responded. "But I managed to draw the irradiated particles out of your body, but you should still take it easy for a while.

Garnet bowed her head with gratitude.

"Thank you, Pearl."

Pearl beamed with pride.

"Thank, Rose," she stated proudly. "She was the one who taught me how to do it."

Amethyst raised her hands and waved them.

"That's great and all, but how did Garnet get irradiated that quickly?"she asked. "I mean, none of us got sick, and Steven isn't dead."

"Amethyst!" Pearl snapped hotly as she covered Steven's ears. "Not in front of Steven!"

"I'm just sayin', that as nuked as Garnet was,we all should have gotten sick!" Amethyst retorted back irritated.

"Under normal circumstances, you would be right, Amethyst," Garnet stated flatly. "But this felt different, it felt like an attack directed at me personally."

A hush fell over the room. This was no random coincidence, it had been planned.

"But who or what could have been powerful enough to attack you, yet still be able to walk in and out of the temple undetected?" Pearl asked as she tried to make sense of this new information. Garnet shook her head.

"I don't know," she sighed tiredly. "But whatever it was, I remember it feeling familiar. It felt like another crystal gem, but different."

"What do you mean 'like a gem but different'?" Steven asked as he pushed Pearl's hands away from his ears. "Like a half-gem, like me?"

"Not even close," Garnet answered as she shook her head. "Something about it felt flawed and unrefined unlike a normal crystal gem. However, it felt mature, like it was soon to be refined."

None of what Garnet was saying sounded good. A being that could harm the gems on the level it had harmed Garnet was a very serious threat.  
If it could do that in an unrefined state, then what would it be capable of once it was fully refined?

"Wait a minute!" Amethyst exclaimed loudly. "The last person in the temple was-"

"Tibbets," Pearl growled angrily, her fist shaking with rage.

"No, it wasn't him!" Steven shouted hotly. "He's my friend, he wouldn't do anything to hurt you!"

"It wasn't Tibbets," Garnet stated as she stood up from the couch.

"But he was the last outsider in the temple before you collapsed!" Pearl argued back. "It had to be him!"

"He is a human, Pearl," Garnet stated back firmly. "Do not let your personal feelings cloud your judgment."

Pearl was blue with anger. She bit her lip as she tried to keep her anger from boiling over.

"Steven, you are not allowed to bring Tibbets back to the temple!" Pearl ordered bitterly.

"What? That's not fair!" Steven protested loudly. "He didn't do anything!"

"She is right, Steven," Garnet stated firmly. "Until we find out what attack us, it would be safer for him to stay away."

Steven gritted his teeth angrily. He stomped his foot down and ran up to his room. He tossed his backpack down the stairs and slid down the hand railing.

"Where are you going?" Pearl asked in an upset mother like tone of voice as Steven shoved past her.

"Out!" he shouted angrily.

He then slammed the door shut. Pearl started to go after him but Garnet stopped her.

"Let him go," she ordered. "He needs time to himself.

"But Garnet-"

"Pearl, let-him-go," she repeated. "That's an order."

Pearl pushed herself away from Garnet and ran to her room, grumbling angrily to herself. Garnet and Amethyst now stood alone in the living room in silence.

"What just happened?" Amethyst asked bewildered.

"It appears that Tibbets' history lessons have left an impression on Steven," Garnet stated as she adjusted her shades. "Pearl will have to come to peace with that."

"Or what?" Amethyst asked with a worried look on her face.

"Conflict," answered somberly. "There will be conflict."


	15. Chapter 15 : Gem or Human?

Chap 15

* * *

Steven stomped and grumbled as he walked down the beach away from the temple. He couldn't believe how unfair the gems were being.  
They were acting like Tibbets was some sort of criminal. Sure, Tibbets looked pretty angry when he left the temple, but he wasn't a threat.

"Pearl probably said something that got him steamed," Steven grumbled angrily. "She's always got to put her nose in everyone's business!"

Steven's fists shook with rage. He was usually happy and joyous so anger was a relatively rare emotion for him. He hated being angry, it made his stomach hurt and his chest pound.

"They all still treat me like a dumb kid!" he shouted angrily as he kicked the ground. "Why won't they treat me like a real gem?"

The only people who seemed to treat him as an equal was Peedee, Onion, and Connie. Even Tibbets treated Steven like a kid, but at least he did it in a caring big brother kind of way.

"He's probably still mad," he sighed with dread. "He's probably mad at me too for bringing him to the temple."

Steven felt sea water suddenly rush under his feet. He didn't mind it, the cold water felt calming. He looked up to the night sky, the moon was nearly full.

* * *

As he made his way from the beach to the docks, Steven heard a familiar sounding laugh. He looked out over the docks and noticed two figures sitting by the docks edge. Another laugh was followed by a cute sounding giggling.

"Hey there!" he shouted.

His heart skipped when he heard who responded.

"Hi, Steven!" it was Connie. "Fancy meeting you out here."

Steven rushed over to her with excitement and curiosity.

"Connie, what are you doing out here this late?" he asked as the two hugged.

"My parents had business out of town so-"

"They hired me to babysit," a hoarse sounding voice interrupted. Sitting slouched over was a very tired sounding Tibbets.

"You told me she liked boats, so I figured she would like it up here. Plus she couldn't sleep."

In the pale moon light, Tibbets look very different since Steven had last seen him.  
His nose was red and irritated, his voice sounded like he had a cold, his eyes were bloodshot, and his hair almost seemed thinner.

Suddenly, Tibbets started to cough. He wiped his mouth with a stained washcloth. He sniffled and looked up to Steven.

"Haven't seen you around much, kid" he stated hoarsely. "What's up?"

Tibbets scooted so that Steven could sit between him and Connie. Steven sat down with a heavy sigh.

"Garnet was sick, I was busy taking care of her," he stated tiredly.

"Sick?" Connie asked. "How does that happen?"

Steven shook his head.

"I don't know," he answered with doubt. "Something to do with radios or something."

Tibbets coughed again.

"You mean radiation?" he asked as he wiped his mouth.

"Yeah, that's it!" Steven exclaimed. "How did you know?"

Tibbets shrugged his shoulders.

"I didn't," he stated bluntly. "I figured that if there was one thing that could make anything sick, it would be that stuff."

Connie gasped and grabbed Steven, her hands smushed his cheeks as she turned him to face her.

"You were exposed to radiation?!" she asked with panic in her eyes.

"N-no, only Garnet was," Steven stammered nervously.

"Is she alright?" Tibbets asked as he wiped his nose.

"Yeah, she's okay now. Pearl fixed her with some crazy gem magic," Steven answered.

Tibbets hocked and spat into the water with a bitter frown.

"So, Pearl is good for something other than bitching," he said with a low growl.

Steven wasn't surprised that Tibbets was angry, he had had a gut feeling that Pearl was the reason why Tibbets had stormed out of the temple. But he had never heard Tibbets use such harsh language before.

"What did Pearl say to you?" Steven asked with concern. "I know she can be bossy, but-"

"It's not what she said, that pissed me off!" Tibbets snapped fiercely. "It's how she said it."

"What do you mean?" Steven asked.

"Her tone she used was so pretentious and condescending," Tibbets stated bitterly. "She used terms like 'your kind' or 'half-gem' and 'unpleasantries'.

Tibbets ears rang again and his nose bled.

"Like the gems are any better than humans," he said in a strangely hateful voice. " It's disgusting."

Connie quietly hid behind Steven. Something didn't feel right. The way Tibbets spoke it was almost like someone else was speaking.

Steven swallowed the lump in his throat, and gently patted Tibbets' shoulder.

"Come on, I'm sure she didn't mean to say those things," he assured nervously. "The gems don't think they're better than humans."

Tibbets turned his head and looked Steven in the eyes. He sighed and hung his head.

"Forget about it, kid," he said sadly. "You wouldn't understand. Those girls have been deciding what they think is best for you for all of your life. You're probably used to it by now."

Steven felt a spark of anger. Out all the things the gems did for him, they never let him do many of the things most normal kids could.

"Oh, I understand plenty!" Steven exclaimed passionately. "All my life it's been 'Steven, it's too dangerous,' or 'Steven, that's too loud,' or 'Steven, you can't do that cuz' your a half-gem dud!" He shouted angrily as he slapped the gem on his belly.

"They think they're keeping me safe by not teaching me my human heritage. Well I'm tired of learning about my gem heritage!" Steven shouted with his fists raised. "I don't even know what I am! Pearl says I'm a gem, Amethyst treats me like a human, and Garnet simply calls me both! They don't know and now I don't know, and I'm sick of it!"

Steven gasped loudly for air. It felt like a elephant was lifted off his shoulders. All that pent up stress and frustration had finally been released. Connie felt her heart flutter.  
She had never seen Steven act so passionately about anything before. It made her feel...warm and fuzzy inside.  
Tibbets was impressed, Steven had had enough of the lies, he was ready for the truth.

"Do you really want to know about you're human history?" Tibbets asked with a wryly smile. "It's not pretty, but you probably already guessed that."

"I need to know!" Steven exclaimed as he grabbed onto Tibbets ankle. "If I don't, I might get even more screwed up in the head!"

Tibbets shook Steven off of his ankle and pulled him up to his feet.

"Good, how about you come over to my place on Friday?" Tibbets asked with a smile. "I've got a ton of DVDs that should get the job done."

Connie raised her hand.

"May I come too?" she asked nervously. She enjoyed seeing this new 'dangerous' side of Steven.

Tibbets chuckled and nodded his head.

"How else is Steven gonna find his way?" he asked. "He doesn't know the way to my place."

Connie blushed, she didn't think Tibbets knew that she had followed him after she saw him with Steven. She wanted to make sure that he wasn't some kind of creeper or some crazy gem monster in disguise.

Before either Connie or Steven could say anything else, Tibbets started coughing again. This time the coughing fit didn't ease up. He keeled over and started coughing even more violently. Each cough was deep and wet sounding, like drowning. Connie and Steven both tried to help him up, but he was too heavy for both of them.

"What's wrong?" Connie asked in a panicked yet worried voice.

Tibbets let out one last wet sounding cough into his stained washcloth. Liquid slowly dripped through the washcloth and splattered on the dock woodwork. It was too dark to tell what the liquid was, but to Steven and Connie, it smelt like pennies. Slowly, Tibbets pushed himself off of the docks and stood up off kilter.

"I'm-fine-just a cold," he stated with a tremble in his voice. After a few deep breaths, Tibbets turned to Connie.

"It's late, I should get you home," he stated as he tossed the ruined washcloth into the water.

Still concerned for his health, Connie decided that heading home sounded like a wise choice. She gave Steven a tiny peck on the cheek and hugged him. Steven blushed beet red as she embraced him.

"Bye, Steven," she said happily before running after Tibbets.

"See ya later, Connie!" Steven shouted happily as he waved goodbye.

As they walked, Tibbets suddenly turned back towards Steven.

"One more thing, Steven!" he shouted. "Tell Garnet that I'm glad that she is feeling better!"

"I will, Tibbets!" Steven shouted back as he waved.

* * *

As Connie and Tibbets walked out of sighed, a strange smell wafted into his nose. It smelt like fish, a lot of fish.  
He looked over the side of the docks into the water and was assaulted by a staggering cloud of odor. Floating in the water was hundreds of dead and dying fish and crabs.  
Startled, Steven fell back on his rear and scooted away from the edge. He pinched his nose and ran down the docks towards home.  
As he ran along the beach, more and more fish floated belly up dead.  
It was like the water had been poisoned.

After what felt like miles, the temple came into view. He ran like wild up the stairs and burst through the door. Waiting for him to return were the gems.

"Where have you been?" Pearl asked frantically. "You had us worried-"

Steven flung his arms around her.

"Something is wrong with the water!" he cried out as he tried to catch his breath.

"What do you mean?" Pearl asked as she tried to get him to slow his breathing.

"The-fish-are-all-dying!" Steven blurted out in between gasps.

The gems exchanged worried looks between themselves. Finally, Amethyst sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I'll check it out," she groaned as she popped her back. "I've been cooped up for too long."

Pearl and Garnet both nodded their heads.

"Right, you investigate while Pearl and I keep watch here," Garnet stated firmly. She was still too weak to take risks.

Amethyst gave a thumbs up and ran out the door. Pearl noticed that Steven was slumped over asleep on the floor next to her feet. Steven hadn't slept in the days that Garnet was sick. Pearl smiled, he was still the Steven that she knew and loved. She tenderly picked him up and held him.

"I'll put him to bed," she said to Garnet as she carried him up to his room.

After slipping his pajamas on, Pearl tucked Steven into bed. He mumbled and squeezed his pillow.  
Pearl sighed wistfully as she leaned against the door frame of Steven's room.  
Where had the time all gone? It felt like he was just a tiny baby only days ago. Now he was growing up into a fine young gem.  
She hoped that she was making Rose proud.  
Nothing was going to harm her child, not while Pearl still drew breath.

"Goodnight, Steven" she whispered sweetly as she shut his bedroom door.

* * *

As Pearl tiptoed down the stairs Amethyst burst through the front door dripping wet and covered in seaweed.

"There is a biblical amount of dead fish and whales everywhere!" she exclaimed with a disgusted scowl.

A gut wrenching stench had clung to Amethyst and began to flood the lower temple. It smelt like the tuna burrito they found in Amethyst's room, except much worse.  
Pearl retched and covered her mouth.

"Dear lord that stench!" she shrilled with her nose pinched shut.

"Did you find anything?" Garnet asked, unfazed by the smell.

Amethyst reached into her back pocket.

"Yeah, this!" she shouted with her nose covered.

She tossed an old stained washcloth before her. A small puddle of sea water seeped out from the washcloth.

"It was floating by the docks," Amethyst stated as she wringed the water from her hair.

Pearl daintily picked up the washcloth and held it away from her with her thumb and index-finger.

"This is all you could find?" she asked as she struggled to keep the bile from bubbling up.

Her gemstone flashed as a sudden, burning pain shot up her hand. She shrieked and dropped the washcloth. A thick, crimson liquid began to ooze out of the cloth and pooled around it.

"What is that stuff?" Amethyst asked alarmed as she too had it stuck on her hands.

Pearl shook her head as she held her hand away from her.

"Whatever it is, it's emitting high levels of radiation!" she said in a panicked voice, her legs trembling.

Garnet bent over and grabbed the washcloth. She held it up to her nose and sniffed it.

"It's blood," she stated flatly as she enveloped the washcloth in a magic bubble.

Amethyst and Pearl's blood both ran cold.

"What...?" Pearl rasped in terror as she looked at the crimson ooze dripping off her hand.

Garnet teleported the stained cloth out of the room so that she could dispose of it later.

"You heard me," she stated grimly. "Blood."

"Human blood."


	16. Chapter 16 : You've been Lied To Part 1

Chapter 16

* * *

People were fleeing the city in droves as the foul stench of rotting fish choked the air.  
All access to the beach and harbor had been blocked off while Hazmat teams cleaned the coastal waters.  
The gems did what they could to help while they also tried to find the source of the radiation spikes.  
The more they searched, the more obvious it became that whatever was causing them was intelligent.  
The gems woke up a day after the fish incident to find several crystal monsters had been laid out in a ring around the crystal temple.  
The monsters were dying, their crystal bodies were discolored from high levels of radiation. Something had dragged them there to die slowly.  
Whatever was responsible for the attacks was growing bolder, or impatient. Garnet felt that her assault was just some type of test run.  
The irradiation of the coast was a warning, and the dying monsters was a challenge.  
All the gems knew for certain was that something powerful was about to be unleashed upon the world.  
And the gems all feared that they might not be ready for it.

* * *

Steven was growing restless. He had been cooped up inside the temple for days. He hadn't seen the gems as much as they were all busy trying to protect the city.  
The only gem who took the time to check up on him was Pearl. She would make sure that he was eating properly, that he was clean, and that he was safe.  
But Pearl's visits were few and far in between, leaving Steven to fend for himself most of time. Most of his friends had evacuated the city due to the smell.  
The only friends he had left in the city were Connie, Greg, and Tibbets.  
Connie didn't evacuate because her parents were still out of town.  
Greg wasn't about to leave his son over a terrible smell.  
And Tibbets said that he wasn't going anywhere. But judging from how he looked, he probably couldn't.  
Tibbets was the sickest looking person Steven had seen since Garnet's irradiation. Both he and Connie were very worried about him and constantly told him to go to the doctor. Each time Tibbets would refuse and say that he had no time to waste. He told them not to worry about him so Steven tried to not let it bother him.

* * *

While the gems were busy keeping the order, Steven was preparing for the movie at Tibbets' place.  
Steven was so excited, it was going to be just him, Connie, and Tibbets hanging out like normal friends should.  
He prepared in secret as he was worried that one of the gems would find out and crash the party. He crammed all kinds of snacks and soda cans into his novelty backpack for the hours of movies they would watch. Steven was determined to have a perfect movie night with his friends, and nothing was going to mess it up.  
But despite all of his secrecy, Steven couldn't avoid the ever watchful eyes of the gems, mainly Pearl's.

Steven's phone chirped in his pocket. He had received a text from Connie.

"Meet me by the Big Donut." it read.

_Alright, movie time! _ Steven thought eagerly.

He grabbed his backpack and hoisted it over his shoulders. He also grabbed a dust mask to block the fishy odor that still lingered. Steven tiptoed down the stairs.  
So far the coast was clear. There was no sign of the gems.  
He quietly made his way through the living room.

_Almost there. _Steven thought as he reached for the doorknob.

"Steven."

He yelped with surprise and spun around. Standing behind him were the gems.

"Oh, hey guys," Steven chuckled nervously. "When did you get back?"

"Where are you going?" Pearl asked in her usual nosy way.

"Out," Steven answered, feeling very small at the moment.

"Out where?" Garnet asked flatly.

Steven's eyes darted in every direction as he tried to think of a way out.

"To Connie's house," he answered with a tremble in his voice. "We were gonna watch some movies together."

He was lying, and Pearl could tell. She could read Steven like an open book, she had raised him after all. But she had no way of proving that he was lying.  
Pearl sighed, knelt down, and looked Steven in the eyes.

"Please promise us you'll be careful, Steven," she pleaded, her voice heavy with worry. "Don't do anything dangerous."

Steven felt guilt crashing down on him like a tone of bricks. They trusted him, and he was about to use that trust against them. He swallowed the lump in his throat and took a deep breath.

"I promise," he sighed as he gave Pearl a hug.

She reluctantly released him, and let him walk out the door.

* * *

Steven ran as fast as his short legs could take him. The sky was very cloudy and windy. As he ran past the beach, he noticed that even though the dead fish were gone, their smell still lingered.

"I hope Connie isn't too grossed out," he said to himself.

Through the thick fog, the Big Donut sign came into view. Standing in front of the store was Connie.

"Hi, Connie!" Steven shouted happily.

"Hi, Steven," she greeted sweetly. "Ready to go?"

Steven nodded his head vigorously.

"I've been ready!" he exclaimed happily.

Connie grabbed his hand and tugged on it commandingly.

"Follow me, I know a short cut."

The two children made their way through the city. Through twisting and winding alleys and streets the two wondered into the old east side of the city.  
Once wealthy from the coal and iron sales, the east side of the city had fell into neglect once the coal and iron mines dried up. Now it sat in shambles.  
Steven had never been to the east side of the city, mainly because Pearl had told him it was no place for a gem. But she wasn't there to nag him this time.

"This place is way creepy," Steven stated uneasily.

"Yeah, no wonder Tibbets is always busy working around here," Connie responded. "This place is nearly falling apart."

After working their way out of the city, the two entered the forest on the city outskirts. After inching their way through the dense foliage, they stumbled into an old picket fence. Rusted and faded warning signs dotted the area. Beyond the fence was a large empty quarry with what looked like craters pitting the area.  
Standing before the two children was a massive rocky plateau. Dug into the side of the plateau was an old mine entrance with a wooden sign that read "Home Sweet Home" nailed to the top of the entrance.

"Here we are," Connie announced, proud that she remembered how to find the mine.

"Tibbets lives in there?" Steven asked as he pointed at the dimly lit mine entrance. "He lives in a cave?"

"Umm...yes?" Connie responded hesitantly.

Steven's face lit up with a huge smile.

"That is so cool!" he exclaimed loudly. "Come on, lets go!"

He grabbed Connie by the hand and ran towards the mine entrance. With their feet kicking up dirt, the two rushed into the darkness of the mine.  
After they were at least fifteen feet into the mine, they could hear music echoing from deep within the dimly lit tunnels.  
The further into the mine they went, the louder the music got. The music became deafening when they reached a massive partially collapsed cavern.  
The cavern, unlike the rest of the mine, looked more like the inside of somebody's house.  
In the center of the cavern was an old worn couch with a big screen T.V in front of it.  
Several heavy metal band and propaganda posters covered the cavern wall along with wall drawings and graffiti.  
Old lamps and other light fixtures hung from long cables that hung across the cavern ceiling. Towards the back of the cavern sat a ten foot tall mount of collapsed rock. The top of the mound had been leveled flat and had a set of rickety looking stairs leading up to the top.  
On the top of the mound sat and old worn out mattress with a patched up bed sheet and pillow case.  
Laying on the bed was a very distraught looking Tibbets staring up at the ceiling.

Connie and Steven had to cover their ears as the loud, heavy metal music blared through the cavern.

"Hey Tibbets!" Steven yelled as loud as he could.

Tibbets gave no response, the music was drowning out Steven's cries. Realizing that Tibbets couldn't hear him, Steven picked up an empty cat food can and tossed up at Tibbets. The can bounced off of his chest and broke him from his trance. He held up a remote and turned off the music.

"Who's throwin' shit at- oh, it's you guys," Tibbets hollered down from his 'room'.

He slowly crept off of his bed and made his way down the stairs. Tibbets looked terrible, and that was putting it nicely.  
His eyes were red and blood shot. His skin was pallid and his hair was very thin. The faded red stains around his mouth hinted that he had been coughing up blood. His once strong sounding voice was raspy often interrupted by heavy, rattling coughing fits.

"You two look like you've seen a ghost," he said with a smile. "Ah, but where are my manners? Welcome to my humble abode."

"What is this place?" Steven asked in awe. "It feels familiar."

Tibbets coughed and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

"It shouldn't," he stated. "This mine was abandoned in the late 1930's when the coal veins dried up. I stumbled upon it when I wondered into town about three years ago."

Connie was both impressed and shocked at what Tibbets called home.

"How can you live like this?" she asked.

Tibbets started to laugh but derailed into another coughing fit. He hocked and spat a mass of blood and phlegm.

"Sorry about that," he sighed with an embarrassed smile. "The old mine generator still works so I can power all these lights and junk. I can collect rain water that drips through the cave ceiling. The old miner's latrine is still intact."

"And the best part is, no rent!" Tibbets stated proudly. "But enough about that, who's ready to watch some DVDs?"

"We are!" Steven answered hopping up and down. "I brought the snacks!"

"Alright, I'll go get the light turned down and give the generator some fuel, then we can get with the movie watching," Tibbets stated as he wobbled past Steven and Connie. "No hanky panky while I'm gone now."

Connie and Steven blushed a bright red which made Tibbets laugh at them.

* * *

As he wobbled out of the mine and into the day light, Tibbets felt as if he was being watched. His ears rang but he shock it off. As he refueled the generator, his ears rang even louder and his nose gushed blood.

"Dammit, I need more time!" he cursed as he pulled the ignitor chain.

After a few more pulls of the chain, the generator growled back to life with a puff of black exhaust. Satisfied, Tibbets shambled back towards the mine's entrance.  
Just as he had reached the mine opening, he heard a hasty shuffling noise behind him. He spun around but saw nothing except a few rocks tumble down from above the mine.

"Probably just a coyote," he stated dismissively as he walked back into the mine. Even though he told himself that it was just an animal, something in the back of his mind said otherwise.

Steven and Connie waited patiently for Tibbets to return. They both had been looking forward to this day all week. With all the crazier than usual stuff that was going on, it was nice just to be able to hang out with each other. Steven had a lot of questions and hoped that Tibbets' DVD's would answer them.  
Connie couldn't pass up spending time with Steven, he was her one true friend and she didn't want to miss out on anything. She was also worried for him.  
Steven was sensitive from being sheltered for too long, and what Tibbets' "movies" covered were dark, grizzly, and completely new for Steven.  
Connie knew that the gems had been keeping Steven ignorant about the wars and their consequences.  
But Pearl had personally made it clear to Connie that she did not want Steven to know about them.  
Connie wasn't afraid of Pearl, but she feared what might happen if she found out that someone else was informing Steven about the wars.  
Connie didn't know about the crystal gem oath, so she had no idea what the gems would do should somebody cross them.

There was a loud groaning sound as the aged lights dimmed. With a spark and a loud pop, the T.V came to life.

"Alright you two lovebirds," Tibbets mocked jokingly as he hopped onto the couch. "Let's get educational!"


	17. Chapter 17: You've been Lied To Part 2

Chapter 17

* * *

Steven, Connie, and Tibbets sat cozily on the worn out couch. They ate potato chips and other junk foods as the dvd showed several old black and white film clippings. Connie was subtlety snuggling up on Steven. Steven's eyes were glued to the screen. Tibbets sat quietly and shivered and coughed.  
The first section of the dvd focused on the aftermath of the first world war. Steven already knew about the Great Depression from what Connie had told him.  
But from what the dvd was showing, the whole world was in a depression, especially Germany. The screen faded to black as it transitioned to the next chapter.  
Out of the black background faded the title " Shadow of the Third Reich."

"What's the Third Reich?" Steven asked Tibbets, who was now wrapped in a blanket.

Tibbets shushed him and pointed at the screen.

"Man kind's greatest blunder."

Steven felt his spine tingle as he watched the events on the dvd unfold. It all started with something that he was already familiar with; The Treaty of Versailles.  
Due to the sanctions placed on Germany after the war, the German economy completely collapsed. Their money became worthless, food became too expensive, and the people began to starve. It was a shock to Steven what the people were resorting to just to stay alive. They burnt their worthless money to keep warm.  
They licked the flour paste off of the wallpaper in their homes.

"Pay attention and remember this man's name," Tibbets stated coldly.

The name that flashed before him was Adolf Hitler.  
Steven knew what evil looked like as he had seen it in the eyes of the crystal beasts the gems fought daily.  
But this man's eyes were like staring a bottomless pit.  
Connie whimpered and squeezed Steven's arm as the man howled like an animal atop his podium. His voice throbbed with anger and hatred.  
We waved his arms madly and stomped his feet as he yelled. What terrified Steven was how quickly the people began to follow and support him.  
Out of all of the monsters that he and the gems had fought, this man made all of them look like rubber bath toys by comparison.

"Tibbets, why are they listening to him?" Steven asked, confused as to why anyone would willingly follow this mad man.

Tibbets coughed and spat.

"He offered them a way out," he sighed bitterly. "If you hadn't eaten in weeks and had to watch your children starve, chances are you would do the same thing."

Steven's heart skipped, he hadn't thought about it like that. Adolf was offering the German people a way out of their impoverished state, and they were starved and desperate enough to listen and obey him. Like a cancer, Nazi Germany began to spread across Europe.  
The first to fall was Poland followed by Norway, Denmark, Belgium, and the Netherlands.  
With it's claws dug deeply into most of Europe, the fascist war machine began to attack both Great Britain and the Soviet Union.  
While the Nazi regime ravaged Europe, the Empire of Japan tore their way through Asia while Italy invaded Albania, Greece, and even carved deeply into East Africa.  
In response to the Japanese invasion of Asia, America, who wanted to stay out of the war, established an embargo on oil and gasoline exports to Japan.  
In response to the embargo, the Empire of Japan attacked the U.S naval base at Pearl Harbor.

"December 7, 1941," Tibbets rasped weakly. "A date which will live in infamy..."

Steven understood that this war was very different yet eerily similar to the first world war.  
Sides had been taken. Old alliances crumbled and turned on each other, while older alliances held fast against the raging storm.  
Allies vs the Axis.

* * *

Steven's sheltered view of the world was collapsing before him. He felt ashamed.  
How could he; a crystal gem, be able to protect humanity if he had been so blind to it's past?  
He understood now why the gems never slept, they had seen too much and were now haunted by history's ghosts. Connie could feel Steven trembling.  
She held his hand and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Where were you, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Mom?" Steven asked as he nuzzled against Connie. "Why didn't you stop this?"

Tibbets ears felt like power drills driving into his head.

"That's a good question, Steven," Tibbets stated grimly as he grabbed an unopened soda can.

"Why don't you ask them yourself?"

Tibbets suddenly sprang from the couch and threw the soda can into the darkness behind them. There was a flash of light as the can was sliced in half in midair.  
Out of the shadows emerged Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. Out of the three, Pearl looked the fiercest.  
Her eyes pierced right through Steven even though they were focused on Tibbets.

"I can't tell you who to trust, kid," Tibbets stated aggressively. "But I sure as shit wouldn't trust people who stalk me from the dark."

"W-what do you mean?" Steven asked, his mind trying to keep up with everything that was happening.

"Isn't it obvious, kid?" Tibbets spat angrily. "They followed you, because they felt that you couldn't be trusted."

"This does not concern you, Tibbets," Garnet stated flatly.

Pearl nodded her head in agreement and turned to Steven.

"Steven, Connie, come on," Pearl ordered with a wave of her hand. "We're leaving."

Steven felt sick as the reality of what was happening sank in. He messed up, and worse, dragged Connie and Tibbets into this mess.

"That's right, keep the wool held tight over his eyes," Tibbets hissed mockingly. "Keep him nice and compliant."

"Shut your mouth!" Pearl snapped viciously, her grip tightening around her spear. "We told you to stay away from Steven!"

Tibbets tilted his head to the side and popped his neck. He scowled and un-paused the dvd.

"Steven, watch." he ordered.

Unsure of what he should do, Steven simply complied with the order. The section title faded from black. In big bold letters read the title "The Holocaust."

"Steven! Don't look at it!" Pearl cried out desperately. But she was too late.

Nothing could have prepared Steven for what he was being shown. People being forced from their homes and loaded onto train cars.  
Children pulled from their mother's arms. Families torn apart by armed guards.  
Time seemed to flow slower as Steven gazed in horror at black and white photos of the death camps.  
Innocent people were starved, beaten, raped, and killed on a scale Steven could never have imagined.  
Gas chambers, experimentation labs, and mass incinerators for the dead or dieing.  
Systematic genocide.

Bile rushed up Steven's throat and spilled out on the ground.

"No more!" he cried out.

Tibbets' grab the back of Steven's head and pressed his face against the screen.

"Look at it!" he yelled violently. "Take a good hard look! You see all those dead? See those twenty-million dead men, women, and children piled up like they were garbage?!"

"Tibbets you're hurting me!" Steven cried out.

"Let him go, now!" Pearl screamed.

"You wanna know why it happened?!" Tibbets yelled as blood gushed from his nose and eyes. "It happened because those who had the power to stop it..." he paused and turned to the gems.  
"Did nothing," he hissed coldly.

He then released Steven, who ran to Connie in fear. Everyone's eyes were wide with shock and there jaws hung slack with awe. Tibbets stood off kilter, his lungs rattling and blood running down his face and staining his shirt. Pearl's shock was quickly replaced by a powerful anger.

"How dare you!" she shrieked furiously as she raised her spear as if preparing to attack. Garnet quickly grabbed and restrained her.

"That's enough, Pearl!" Garnet ordered loudly as she held Pearl in a one-armed choke hold.

"Go ahead, let her go Garnet," Tibbets mocked with open arms. "You gems did nothing back then, and you sure as shit wont do anything now!

Pearl stopped thrashing and glared with a mixture of anger and confusion.

"What are you babbling about?!" she asked hotly.

Tibbets un-paused the dvd and re-paused it during a close up of a young emaciated woman. Tattooed on the woman's skeletal arm was a five figure number combination '9-7-6-3-3'. The gems knew what it was, it was branding. Tibbets rolled up his jacket sleeve and revealed a tattoo on his left arm with the same numbers. Underneath the numbers were the words 'Never Forget' inked in bold font.

"My grandmother once lived with her parents, her three brothers, and two older sisters," Tibbets rasped weakly. "By the time my grandfather's division liberated the camp she was imprisoned at, she was the only one of her family left."

Tibbets withdrew a pair of rusted dog tags from under his shirt collar, and clenched then in his hand.

"If you gems want to protect humanity so badly, then where did you go when we needed you most?"

A death like silence fell over the cavern. No one spoke, they could only stare with pure shock on their faces. Pearl tried to stammer in their defense, but found the words would not form.

"Our- our oath," she stammered. " Our oath, it-it-"

"Your oath?!" Tibbets snapped angrily. "Does your oath mean more to you than human lives?"

"You know that's not true," Garnet retorted defensively.

Tibbets scoffed.

"It's not?" he asked mockingly. " Well that's great to hear. I'm sure my grandmother and all of her family would have been relieved to know that!"

Tibbets stopped and began to cough. With each cough came a mouthful of blood. Pearl's blood ran cold. She finally understood why Tibbets hated the gems so much. In his eyes, they had not only failed him, they failed humanity.

"And now you lack the spine to face your guilt, so you tried to bury it and hide it from the boy." Tibbets wheezed weakly. "That's why you refused to teach him his human history. Am I wrong?"

"You don't know anything," Pearl hissed coldly. "We did it for Steven's own good. You can't understand because you're not his mother-"  
Pearl stopped and covered her mouth. In her anger, she had truly spoken her mind. Steven's eyes where wide and hollow looking. He had taken all he could handle.

"You hear that, kid?" Tibbets coughed. "For your own good. Spoken like a true fascist."

A loud crack split through the air as Amethyst's whip coiled tightly around Tibbets' neck. The coils tightened as Tibbets tried to free himself. His eyes began to roll back into his head as the blood flow to his brain was block off.

"Amethyst, what are you doing?!" Steven cried out. "You're gonna kill him!"

Amethysts stood trembling with her grip tight around the handle of her whip.

"You think it was easy for us to sit and watch on the sidelines?" she asked with angry tears in her eyes. "Knowing that you had the power to stop the killing but were forced not to? You have no idea what it was like!"

"Amethyst, release him now!" Garnet ordered loudly as she grappled with the distraught gem.

"You...have...no...idea!" Amethyst cried out before falling to her knees sobbing.

The whip loosened and uncoiled around Tibbets' neck. He gasped for air and fell to his knees. Steven hopped over the couch and ran to Amethyst.  
She threw her arms around him and sobbed loudly.

"I-I'm sorry, Steven! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she wailed in anguish.

Steven couldn't believe what was happening. What Tibbets said was true, the gems were ashamed and tried to hide it from Steven by lying to him.  
Everything he knew was wrong. He felt like he had just been punched in the stomach.

"Hey, kid!" Tibbets shouted, with one hand still on his throat. He tossed Steven's backpack over to him.

"Get out, lesson's over."

Steven's heart sank like a lead brick as he realized that he was leaving his friend, this time for good. He felt a warm pair of hands rest on his shoulders.  
He looked up to see that it was Pearl.

"Amethyst, take Connie home," she instructed calmly. "Garnet and I will take Steven back to the temple."

Amethyst sniffled and wiped her eyes.

"Okay..." she stated in a defeated tone.

"Let's go, Steven," Pearl stated as she pulled him to his feet.

As the light of the teleporter gleamed brightly, Steven kept his eyes looked with Tibbets.  
With a look of disappointment on his face, Tibbets shut his eyes and turned away.

* * *

With a brilliant flash of light, Steven, Garnet, and Pearl were back at the temple. It didn't take long for Pearl to start her usual bout of nagging.

"What were you thinking?" she asked in a flustered tone. "How many times have we told you to stay away from that mine?"

Steven said nothing. He felt numb and hurt.

"I expect this kind of behavior from Amethyst, but not from you Steven," Pearl stated with disappointment in her voice as she paced around him.

Steven felt something spark inside of him.

"I am very disappointed in-"

"Shut up," Steven hissed quietly.

Pearl stopped her pacing and spun around to face him.

"What did you just say?" she asked coldly.

"I said shut up!" Steven exploded angrily. "Just shut up!"

Pearl recoiled, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"You listen here young man-"

"No, I'm done listing to you!" Steven snapped viciously. "All my life you've been lying to me, and trying to keep me in the dark, well I'm sick of it!"

"We did what we did to protect you!" Pearl yelled, her fist shaking and face blue with anger. "Your mother's dying wish was for us to protect you from the evils of this world!"

"Is that the truth?" Steven asked. " Or is that the lie you use to hide the guilt?"

Pearl grabbed Steven by the cuff of his shirt and pulled him up to eye level with her.

"Do you have any idea what she gave up to bring you into this world?" she asked with an icy stare. "She died to bring you into this world! You are her child and we did everything we did for you! Why can't I make you understand that?!"

"So that justifies the lies?" Steven asked coldly. "It was all for my own good?"

"If those lies kept you safe, then yes, it was for your own good," Pearl answered with a furious tremble in her voice. Her anger had finally reached the boiling point.

"You're just too young and stupid to understand!"

Realizing what she said, Pearl covered her mouth and stood shocked. She looked down at Steven with regret in her eyes. Steven felt nothing but a blinding anger.  
He had never been so angry in his life. His aching heart now burned and his fists shook with fury.

"S-Steven, I-I'm so sorry," Pearl stammered shaking. "I didn't mean to-"

Steven gem flashed as a force field shoved her back from him.

"I hate you Pearl!" he yelled as loud as he could. "Never speak to me again!"

Steven shoved past her and ran towards the temple gateway. It gleamed pink and opened to Rose's room. If Steven could slam the door shut, he would have.

* * *

Pearl stood in silence, her mind was too shocked to do anything. Slowly, the words Steven yelled began to sink in and fester.  
Her legs trembled before she slid to her knees. Her shaking hands covered her mouth as tears rolled down her face.  
She began to whimper like a wounded dog and her shoulders shook.

"S-Steven...hates me?" she cried weakly.

The front door swung open as Amethyst entered the temple.

"I got Connie home safe and sou-"

She stopped when she saw Pearl on the floor, weeping into her hands.

"W-what happened?" Amethyst asked as she ran to Pearl's aid.

The moment Amethyst touched her, Pearl pushed her away and ran crying to her room. She sealed the door behind her and dimmed the lights in her room.  
With anguished sobs, Pearl leaned back against the door with her eyes covered.

"I'm sorry, Steven! I didn't mean it! I swear I didn't mean it!" she wailed as she slid down to the floor.

As hot tears ran down her face, her mind kept flashing back to the innocent baby that she once held in her arms.

"I-I just wanted to keep you safe. But now...now you hate me!"

Pearl's body hurt with raw emotion. Everything she had done to keep Steven safe had been for nothing. Steven was lost, and it was her fault.  
The child she loved like her own son now hated her.  
There was no worse of a punishment.

"Forgive me Rose," she begged on her hands and knees. "I failed you."

* * *

Amethyst and Garnet paced around the living room, unsure of what to do next.

"It was gonna happen sooner or later," Amethyst stated somberly. "But I didn't expect it to be that bad."

"We are all to blame here," Garnet responded flatly. "Now Steven distrusts us. And I for one don't blame him."

Amethyst sighed tiredly, she was exhausted.

"I think I need some time alone," she stated as she walked to her room.

Garnet agreed, they all needed to take some time to think. They were on thin ice and it was only going to get thinner.  
As Garnet headed to the gateway, she noticed that Steven had left his backpack on the floor, it's contents spilled out.  
Amongst the mound of junk food, Garnet noticed something shimmer. She reached down and pulled out a dvd.  
Written in red marker were the numbers 9-7-6-3-3.  
Underneath the numbers were the words "Help Me!"


	18. Chapter 18: Black August

Chapter 18

*Warning! Not for the squeamish!*

* * *

The dull rumbles of distant thunder roared as a storm approached the coast. The wind howled and rattled the temple windows as rain began to fall.  
With the rest of the gems in their rooms, Garnet was the only on still awake. She had been up watching the dvd that she had found hidden in Steven's backpack.  
At first she thought it was just another insult from Tibbets. The dvd was an hour long video of the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima with the tune of "Happy Birthday" playing in the background. The more Garnet watched the video, the more she felt like she was missing something.  
As the dvd played, Garnet began to notice something peculiar. Hidden underneath the eerie birthday tune, Garnet could hear high pitched decibels.  
At first they seemed meaningless, but by using her enhanced sense of focus, Garnet began to hear a pattern. It was a message in Morse code.  
After listing to the code for twenty minutes, Garnet could decipher the message.

_What threatened the world before Uranverein?_

_ Before Manhattan?_

_ Before Enola?_

_ Before the Black August? _

_ The Rose knows._

_ It feeds._

_ It grows._

_ It burns._

_ It slumbers in flesh._

Garnet ejected the dvd. The cryptic message was less of a plea for help and more like a prophetic warning.

"The Rose knows," Garnet repeated back to herself. "Rose Quartz."

_ How is Rose involved with this? _Garnet thought with concern.

What had Rose not told the other gems? Rose was not one to keep secrets from the gems.  
This troubled Garnet; why did Tibbets have this dvd?  
More importantly, what was this thing that the message warned about? If it caught Rose's attention, then it had to have been of great danger.  
Garnet had to find out more about this. Having known Rose the longest, Garnet knew that Rose would have kept a record of any information she found.  
For that, Garnet would need to go to the Crystal Archives.

The crystal gateway flashed as Pearl shuffled out of her room, her head hung low.

"Oh...hi Garnet," she sighed brokenly. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and her natural glow was gone.  
It was obvious that she was still deeply hurting from the fight she had with Steven.

"I can see that you're busy..." Pearl said sadly as she turned her head away from Garnet. "I'll stay out of your way."

Garnet held up the dvd in front of Pearl.

"I found this in Steven's backpack," she stated with a calm yet urgent tone.

"I assume Tibbets gave it to him..." Pearl whimpered. "What's it about this time? The fall of France, Pearl Harbor, Stalingrad ?"

"It's a warning," Garnet answered. "It involves Rose."

Pearl broke from her sulking when she heard this.

"What do you mean?" she asked in a serious tone.

Garnet shook her head.

"I'm not sure, but I'm going to find out," she stated in a determined tone. "It might be connected to the radiation spikes."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Pearl asked, hoping to find a way to make herself useful.

Garnet placed placed her hand on Pearl's shoulder and nodded her head.

"Wake Amethyst and guard the temple," she stated firmly. "I have a bad feeling about tonight."

* * *

After giving her orders, Garnet opened the crystal gateway to the temple archives.  
The archives was a huge thirty foot wide hexagonal room that spanned for miles upward and downward.  
Stored withing it's walls were eons of human and gem history. In the center of the room, hovering on it's pedestal was the Crystal Archiver.  
Garnet walked across the translucent bridge that connected the gateway to the Archiver. Garnet held up her hand and awoken the Archiver.  
A holographic screen appeared in front of her.

"Archiver, open file, 'Rose Quarts'," Garnet ordered.

The Archiver blinked and opened Rose's personal file. Her file contained centuries worth of records, all from their past missions.

"Search 'Uranverein'," Garnet ordered as she opened a second screen.

The Archiver flickered and opened the file. Uranverein was the Nazi nuclear weapons program back during WW2. Garnet read over the file but saw nothing out of place.

"Search 'Manhattan Project'."

The Archiver opened the file. It showed secret documents that outlined America's nuclear weapons program during the second world war.  
Once again, Garnet found nothing out of place. On a whim, Garnet opened a third screen.

"Search 'Enola Gay," she ordered.

The Archiver opened a file that showed photos and newspaper clippings of the infamous B-29 bomber.

As Garnet scanned through the file, she noticed an unnamed file icon. She tapped it with her finger but was denied access. It was password protected.  
Frustrated, Garnet began to let her mind wonder. As she became lost in thought, her mind flashed back to the heated confrontation with Tibbets at his home.

"Bury the past..."

She flashed back even farther into the past. She was back at the valley of the mine. Rose was there as was Pearl and Amethyst.  
Skittering all around them were the repulsive infernal creatures.

"Burner!" she exclaimed, slamming her fist into her palm.

Suddenly the file opened. Inside were several newspaper clippings dating back to the 1991 "Burner" incident. Garnet was already familiar with most of the articles.  
As she scanned through the articles she found another hidden file. The file was titled "Black August".  
Garnet tapped the file and the Archiver began to hum and glow as it retrieved the information.

What lay within the file was a detailed map of Earth. The map showed several x marks on the map with a line connecting them.  
Garnet felt a chill run up her spine as she realized what the marks were. They were the locations of where other crystal gem temples had been.  
She tapped on several of the marked points and opened up files on the temples located there.  
All of them were destroyed.  
The temples were crumbling and scorched. The thing that stood out with all of the temples were blast shadows of the former resident gems.  
Only something of incredible heat could cause that. Something had been hunting down crystal gems and killing them.  
Garnet traced the path of devastation back to it's point of origin, Berlin.

* * *

She tapped the point on the map and found hundreds of documents that dating back to 1941. The more she read, the more disturbed she became.  
The documents all had the Swastika stamped at the top of the page.  
The documents were lists of experiments conducted by a Nazi paranormal division that specialized in ancient crystal gem culture.  
Their documents showed several graphs and blueprints for gem powered machines and weapons.  
Filed alongside the blueprints were several ancient gem hieroglyphics.  
Most of the experiments had been deemed failures as the paranormal division seemed to only understand what the hieroglyphics could do, but did not understand how to make them work. One of the documents was a diagram of an ancient gem spell circle.  
The spell circle was once used for gem fusion before they had mastered the art of fusion.  
A few of the documents showed that the Nazis had tried to persuade local gems into helping with their research, but to no avail.  
The more Garnet read, the more terrifying the scope of the research became.  
The Nazis wanted gem warriors for their armies.  
Of course no crystal gem would ever ally themselves with human fascists. The documents, the graphs, the gem fusion spell circles, it all pointed to one motive.  
They were trying to make their own crystal gem.

* * *

The experiments on the gems were brutal and often lead to the explosive death of both the gem and the human subject.  
Out of the fifty-two gems that the Nazis had captured, only fifteen survived the failed experiments. Once Garnet had reached the bottom of the file, she noticed that no documents showed any reports of a success or a cancellation of the experiments. All documentation ended after one seemingly final project.

Projekt: Schwarz August (Project: Black August)

Garnet tapped the project title and opened another screen. An old surveillance video began to play.

August 3, 1942.

In a secured underground laboratory, the Nazi paranormal division had created a massive machine.  
The machine consisted of five metal cylindrical chambers with the largest chamber sitting the the center with the other four surrounding it.  
The metal chambers were covered in occult markings and drawings. The floor was painted with a massive gem fusion circle that connected the with all of the chambers. In the first chamber, six armed guards struggled to force a young and frightened gem into the metal chamber. Garnet's heart sank, she recognized the gem.

"Calcite..."

Calcite was one of the youngest crystal gem and had been in the care of the crystal temple located in the Alps.  
To a human, she would look to be about ten years of age.  
Fighting and thrashing for her life, Calcite was slowly dragged and forced into the chamber.  
As she cried out for her sisters to save her, a scientist in a hazmat looking suit entered the lab.  
With a pair of metal tongs, the scientist placed a large cylinder of Uranium into the second chamber.

"I guess they wanted metal more than crystal," Garnet stated grimly.

The last two chambers were opened by two scientists. The last chambers were for a naked, blond haired, blue eyed, man and woman.  
They gave one last salute before their chambers were sealed.

With everything in order, the scientists all put on their protective goggles and began to turn and flip switches.  
Once the machine was prepared, it was time for the cultists to start the ritual. Six men dressed in hooded robes formed a circle around the machine.  
They all knelt down and began to chant. Once the cultists began to chant, the scientists activated the machine.  
Like an ancient monster, the machine groaned and rumbled.  
As the chanting grew louder, the spell circle began to glow.  
Tesla coils popped and sparked as electricity arched between the chambers.  
The center chamber began to shake and rivets shot out of it's frame.  
Steam hissed as the machine strained to contain the ancient magical energies trapped within it.  
Screams of pain echoed out of the chambers as the glass view ports blew out with rays of blinding light beaming out of them.  
A red warning light began to flash as the machine reached it's breaking point.  
Suddenly, a massive pulse of magical energy burst out from the central chamber.  
The camera shook and went to static.  
After three minutes of static, the recording proceeded.  
The whole laboratory was charred and smoking. As the dying static sparked and popped around the room, the seal on the central chamber unlocked.  
With a thick gout of steam, the warped and bent door slowly opened. Out of the chamber shambled a humanoid figure.  
It was translucent like frosted glass and had a dull orange glow in it's stomach. It looked like a naked emaciated female.  
It took a few wobbly steps then fell to the floor. Garnet could not believe her eyes. In there lust for power, the Nazis had done the unthinkable and the unholy.  
They created an artificial crystal gem.

* * *

One by one, the rest of the chambers opened. Out of the first chamber fell the unconscious Calcite. She was alive, but just barely.  
Out of the second chamber, the Uranium cylinder was glowing white hot. Out of the last two chambers crumbled the charred corpses of the man and woman.  
On the ground were the eerily clear burnt outlines of the cultists. The false gem steadily forced itself up off the ground. It took a look around the room, then at itself.  
It looked dissatisfied with it's skeletal figure.

It's thoughts were broken by the sound of Calcite's moans of pain.  
Calcite coughed and rolled onto her stomach.  
When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the ghoulish looking false gem.  
Being young and inexperienced, Calcite panicked and screamed. With what little energy she could gather, she summoned her weapon, a rapier sword.  
With a posture that befitted a starved human, the false gem approached Calcite, it's intentions unclear. Regardless of it's intentions, Calcite attacked.  
She thrusted her rapier at the false gem, but the sword shattered against it's emaciated body. With nowhere to run, Calcite froze with fear.  
With surprising speed, the false gem grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off the ground with one hand.  
Calcite struggled and kicked against the false gem, but to no avail.  
The false gem raised her free hand and the molten Uranium cylinder poured out of it's chamber. It moved over to the false gem and slithered up her leg.  
Like a serpent, the liquid metal coiled up the false gem's body and snaked up to her free hand and formed a glowing hot blade.  
As Calcite screamed and cried out for her mother to save her, the false gem drove the blade deep into the young gems stomach.  
The high pitched hissing of hot metal rang out as fresh blood met the blade.  
Calcite hung limply as she slowly slid down the blade. Finally, after a brutally long minute had passed, Calcite's body flashed as she retreated into her gemstone. Almost instinctively, the false gem picked up Calcite's gemstone.  
What it did next shook Garnet to her core.

It liked it's lips and swallowed Calcite's gemstone.  
As the false gem's molten core destroyed Calcite, her body began to glow bright white like magnesium.  
Once the light had faded, the false gem stood taller with a thicker looking body.  
It was a cannibal.  
With a satisfied look, the false gem turned to the labs blast shielded door. As if on cue, two scientists, an SS commander, and about ten armed guards flooded the room. The false gem smiled at the commander. She walked up to him with a distinctively seductive sway in her hips.  
She then raised her hands and with a bright flash of light vaporized the armed guards.  
The commander drew his pistol, but the false gem grabbed him by the arm and threw him across the room.  
She then grabbed the two cowering scientists and gave them both a deep kiss. She then dropped them and watched their fate unfold.  
The two scientists screamed in pain as their bodies began to burn. Their eyes melted away and became glowing hollow pits.  
Their skin flaked off to reveal a dark gray shell.  
With a loud, grinding roar the two scientist's transformation was completed.

"The first Burners," Garnet stated with disgust.

The false gem turned to the camera and smiled.  
The video switched to another security recording, this time the footage was from the holding cells that the captured gems were being held.  
It was an absolute slaughter.  
The Burners pulled the weakened gems out of their cells and offered them to the false gem.  
It saved the strongest ones for last while letting the Burners rip apart the weakest one's for themselves.  
A few of the gems fought back bravely, but could not overcome the false gem's power. One by one they fell, gemstone by gemstone the false gem gorged herself.

Garnet vomited. How could something be so cruel? It was an abomination.

* * *

Once it had eaten it's fill, the false gem began to crack. Realizing something was wrong, it ordered her two burners away.  
They returned with the SS commander she had attack earlier. He was laid out before her on his back.  
Just when Garnet thought the creature could not be anymore twisted, it proved her wrong.  
After a violent display of copulation, the false gem glowed brightly and vanished. In it's place was a crying infant.  
The badly burned SS commander held the child and began to rock it back and forth, as if he actually cared for the unholy bastard child.  
Finally, the recording ended.

Garnet could not believe what she had just witnessed. Like Rose, the false gem had given birth by giving up it's physical form.  
But the future temple attacks could only mean one thing, it hid within it's own children.  
It would use it's children to get close to the temples, then it would attack and consume the resident gems.  
The attacks continued until the 1991 "Burner" incident. Rose never spoke about what had happened within the mine.  
The only reason Rose would have kept this a secret was that she thought she had destroyed the false gem that day.  
Garnet wanted to believe that Rose had slain the unholy monster, but if there was the slightest chance that it had survived, then they were all in grave danger.

With the images of blast shadow covered temple walls burnt into her mind, Garnet deactivated the Archiver.

"_So now you know the truth_."

Garnet felt a sudden and intense burning in the back of her head. Her ears blared like the horns of the apocalypse and purple blood gushed out of her nose.  
Her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell to the ground in pain. Blinded by pain, Garnet slowly blacked out.

"_You're a curvy one aren't you? I bet you taste delicious_."


	19. Chapter 19 : Forgive me!

Chapter 19

* * *

Steven sat quietly and sulked in Rose's room for what felt like days, still hurt from what Pearl had said. The normally pink fluffy clouds that made up the room were dark and gloomy.

"I'm not stupid..." he muttered bitterly, trying to cover up his hurt feelings with anger.

He was so fed up with the lies that he snapped. During the argument, nothing else mattered, all he wanted were answers.  
Being told he was too young and stupid to understand was not the answer he wanted. The longer he reflected back on the argument, the more he hurt.  
His anger dulled into a deep sadness. In one day alone he had lost two close friends. He had lost Tibbets, and worse, he had lost Pearl.  
Steven had grown up never knowing his mother, he only knew her face from old photos. Pearl had been the one who filled that void.  
Whenever he tried to picture his mother's face, all he would see was Pearl's. She had done so much for him in his short little life. She had sacrificed so much for him.  
She was the one that had fed him, the one who sat at his bed when he was sick, the one who protected him, and he had just told her he hated her.  
It felt like his guts were being tied into a knot. He regretted what he said; she had just hurt him so much. He knew what he said was no better, in fact; it was probably worse.  
Emotionally drained, Steven decided he would rather sleep than stay awake. But the beds that Rose's room created did not comfort him.  
He wanted to lay in his own bed, in his own room. With a heavy sigh, Steven walked to the door. With a pink glow, it slid open.

* * *

The temple was dark, the lights were turned off and the storm clouds were blocking the moon's light.  
Suddenly, Steven's gem flashed and formed a shimmering membrane around his body.

"What the- now what?" he moaned tiredly. "You're always doing stuff when I don't want you to."

He shook his head then glanced over the temple. It was too dark to see much of anything.  
Something felt wrong. It was so quiet, even the storm seemed hushed.  
A loud eerie creaking noise made him jolt with surprise. The front door was swinging loosely off of it's hinges, as if it had been kicked in.  
Something was defiantly wrong.  
With a sense of impending danger, Steven felt around the wall for the light switch.  
Once he found it, he flipped the switch only for sparks to fly out of most of the light fixtures.  
What few lights that remained revealed that the temple was wrecked. Slash marks covered the walls and floor. The TV was shattered and smoking.  
The couch was charred and flipped upside down. Human shaped imprints were smashed into the walls and ceiling. The stairs had a huge gash splintering down them. Steven noticed that there were bloody foot prints all around the living room.  
A battle had been fought here, but Steven did not know who it's victor had been.

"Garnet...Amethyst...Pearl...anyone?"

A weak, pained groan responded from the kitchen.

"Steven...?"

Leaping over the ruined couch and broken glass and wood, Steven ran into the kitchen and found Pearl pinned under the toppled refrigerator.  
Pearl was bruised and battered with burns on her arms and face.

"Pearl!" Steven cried out. "Don't move, I'll get you out!"

With his feet planted firmly on the ground, Steven strained to lift the heavy fridge. His first try had no results.  
His second try only lifted the fridge up a few inches before he dropped it back down onto Pearl.  
His heart pounded as adrenalin began to work its biological magic in Steven's body. With the a loud strained groan, Steven slowly began to lift the fridge up.  
He lifted it up just enough for Pearl to crawl out from underneath it. Once she was free, Steven dropped the fridge with an exhausted gasp.  
He leaned over and gasped for air.

"Are you alright, Pearl?" he asked in between breaths.

Pearl didn't know what to say. Even after the hurtful things she had yelled at him, he still came to her aid.

"Y-you helped me?" she asked bewildered. "Even after I-"

"I'm sorry, Pearl!" Steven interrupted as he threw his arms around her waist. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it! I don't hate you! I could never hate you!"

Pearl swept him off his feet and embraced him with tears in her eyes.

"I'm the one who should be apologizing," she whimpered as she nuzzled Steven's forehead. "I shouldn't have lost my temper. I'm sorry."

"Yeah...we're all sorry..." a muffled voice groaned.

Pearl dropped Steven and began to look around for the owner of the voice.

"Amethyst, where are you?!" she call out as she looked around the destroyed living room.

"In here," Amethyst responded, followed by a loud knocking noise from the fridge.

Steven reached down and opened the fridge door. Amethyst crawled out of the fridge with pain filled groans.  
Her broken arms and legs snapped back into place with sickening cracking sounds.

"Damn that hurts!" she cursed as she popped her spine back into place. "It didn't even try to make room!"

"What happened?" Steven asked, desperate for answers. "What did all of this?"

Pearl looked to Amethyst for support, who shut her eyes tightly with anticipation.

"It-it looked like..." Pearl stopped and bit her thumb as if she was too frightened to speak.

"It looked like what?" Steven begged.

"It...looked like Tibbets!" Pearl forced out with her eyes shut.

"But Steven, there was no way that thing could have been him!" Amethyst exclaimed with her hands raised defensively. "No human could have shrugged us off easily!"

Steven didn't know what to believe at the moment, but knew that something had attacked the temple.  
The only reason he had been spared from the battle was because he was in Rose's room at the time.

"I'm sorry guys," Steven sighed. "I should have been here to help."

"No, it's better that you were safe," Pearl responded in a serious tone. "It could have killed you. I don't even think Garnet could have-"

"Garnet!" both Pearl and Amethyst shouted.

"She was in the archives! She's in danger!" Pearl shouted as she summoned her spear.

"She's a fighter, but that will only buy her time!" Amethyst exclaimed as she cracked her whip.

"What are we waiting for?!" Steven shouted. "Lets go save-"

Suddenly, the temple gateway was forced open. Standing in the gateway was the attacker. Beside it was an unconscious Garnet, who was being dragged by her hair.

"Pathetic..." it hissed as he hurled Garnet across the temple.

She slammed into the wall and fell to the floor. With a wave, the attacker shut the gateway. Sparks flew from the gateway as hot liquid metal sealed it shut.

"Garnet!" all three yelled as they ran to her aid.

She coughed and spat blood as she regained consciousness.

"Where...where is Steven?" she asked with pain still flaring in her head. "Is he safe?"

"Forget about me! Are you alright?!" Steven exclaimed as he helped her to her feet.

"It was heading for the crystal heart!" Garnet shouted urgently as she raised her fists. With a flash, she re-summoned her gauntlets over her visibly burnt hands. "We must not let it reach it!"

"What does it want with the crystal heart?" Pearl asked, very unnerved that Garnet; their strongest warrior, had been tossed like a rag doll.

"It needs a place to hatch," Garnet answered as she ran to the sealed gateway.

"Hatch?!"

"There's no time to explain!" Garnet stated urgently as she forced the gateway open with her hands.  
The tortured metal groaned as the gateway was slowly pulled open.  
The moment the door was opened, Steven's gem flashed and surrounded the group with the same shimmering membrane that had surrounded Steven earlier.

"What are you doing?" Amethyst asked as she looked over herself.

"I don't know, this is new," Steven responded, just a clueless as she was.

"They appear to be some kind of shield," Pearl stated with astonishment in her voice.

"Whatever they are, they appear to be protecting us from the high levels of radiation I'm sensing in the heart chamber," Garnet stated flatly. "Let's hope they hold up."

* * *

Cautiously, the four gems entered the chamber of the crystal heart. The lights were dim and the beats of the heart were weak and dull.  
A trail of blood and metal shavings lead to the center of the chamber. The heart was discolored and appeared to be bleeding.  
Standing in front of he heart was the intruder.

"That's close enough," the intruder ordered in a calm voice. "You're too late. I've taken what I needed."

Undeterred, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl approached with their weapons drawn. Steven lingered behind them.

"As fun as it would be to beat you senseless again, I'm afraid I lack the time."

The intruder reached behind him and withdrew a revolver. The gems froze once they noticed the dull red gleam from within all six chambers.

"That's right," the intruder hissed. "Anti-gem rounds. It's funny...with these, anyone can bring the 'Mighty Crystal Gems' to their knees."

The intruder began to laugh hatefully, but derailed into a coughing fit.

"This was almost too easy! If I had passed up that cup of tea, I probably wouldn't have found you!

Steven's heart went cold.

"T-Tibbets?" he stammered. "Is that you?"

The intruder laughed cruelly as it stepped into the light.

"Hey, kid," Tibbets said with a twisted smile. "This has been one crazy day hasn't it?"

Even as he stared at the familiar face of his friend, Steven refused to believe that thing was Tibbets. Tibbets was friendly, kind, fun, and caring.  
That thing was not the Tibbets he knew. It felt like something else was talking through him.

"Y-you're not Tibbets!" Steven cried out. " You can't be!"

"Oh, really, kid?" Tibbets laughed as he spun the chamber of the revolver. "Then who am I, hmmm?"

"The False Gem," Garnet responded coldly. "You're a mistake that should have never been made. You're what's been destroying the other temples.  
You're the one that's been killing the other gems. You're what gave birth to the Burners. You're what Rose killed in the mines twenty-two years ago."

Tibbets tsked and shook his head.

"That's where you're wrong, dearie," a cold, unnatural voice echoed. "Rose didn't kill me. She merely delayed this moment. What she killed in the mines wasn't me, or even a crystal gem..."

His eyes darted to Pearl.

"You know of what I speak of, Pearl," the voice spoke. "You had your doubts but...you always knew. Remember how weak she became? How unhappy she was?  
How fragile and tired she became? It was not my blood she spilt that day. Too red, too warm, too...human."

Pearl's eyes went wide with shock.

"The oath..." she rasped in shock. "Y-you tricked her into breaking it!

The voice laughed spitefully.

"Guilty as charged. That day sealed her fate. As the oath was broken, so was her gem. She was the only one who could have stopped me. That is...until you showed up."

Tibbets aimed the revolver at Steven. Steven was no genius, but he could see the writing on the wall.  
Three gems and one Steven against six anti-gem rounds equaled a no win outcome.

"She reforged her gemstone and gave it to you after she fucked that stupid ape you call a father!" the voice hissed angrily. "His blood taints her gemstone, but it's nothing a bullet to the forehead can't fix."

There was no way out. Should the gems attack, they would all fall and Steven would still be killed. But if they did nothing, he would be killed before them.

"Please, Tibbets...is this what your grandparents would want?" Steven whimpered with frightened tears in his eyes.

The smile Tibbets' face became forced and tears began to build in his eyes.

"Shut up..."his hissed.

The hand holding the revolver began to tremble hesitantly, as if something was fighting back.  
Pearl felt something, it was weak but it was still buried deep within the False gem. It was Tibbets, he was not dead, but he was fading fast.  
If they could reach him, they might be able to put an end to this.  
An idea formed, it was a crazy idea, but if there was any chance of ended this stand off, she had to act upon it.

"Follow my lead, gems," Pearl whispered softly.

She cleared her throat and took a deep breath.

"The days he lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind," she sang in her angelic voice.

"He thought about the girl back home, the one he left behind," Garnet sang along with Pearl.

"He though about the medicos and wondered what they'd find," Amethyst sang along with her sisters.

"And...he ain't gonna...jump...no...more..." Tibbets sang as if he was struggling to form the words. He shook his head and blinked, confused as to what was happening.

"Kid, gems, is that you?"

Tears began to flow down his eyes.

"I'm sorry!" he cried as he gripped his head with his free hand. "She's got me dancing on her goddamned strings!"

"It's alright, Tibbets," Pearl spoke in a motherly tone. "We can help you, just put the gun down."

Tibbets shut his eyes tightly and shook his head.

"Nothing can help me," he whimpered as molten slag dripped from his mouth. "She's taken everything from me! My father, my uncle, my grandpa, my grandma. She even tried to take Steven from you!"

"Tried?" the voice mocked.

Tibbets began to scream and convulse violently. Out of his back burst metal cables which dug deep into the crystal heart. His jacket slid off and revealed that his body had wires and tubes running through him like massive parasites.

"Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, for what it's worth, I'm sorry," Tibbets stated somberly. "I never wanted this..."

With an erratic, jerking motion, he tore his grandpa's dog tags off of his neck and threw them towards the gems.  
With an agonized cry, Tibbets strained and pulled the firing hammer back on the revolver.

"Don't–you–dare–you little whelp!" the voice cursed. "Nothing will stop me!"

Tibbets gave one last look at the gems. He regretted what they were going to be forced to witness.

With his insides burning and his mind quickly fading, he knew what he needed to do, for he could not ask the gems to do it for him.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing!" he cried out. "Remember that Steven!"

As if his limbs were chained to weighs, Tibbets held the revolver up to his head.

"Tibbets, no!"

"Please, stop it!"

"We can help you!"

"Don't do it!"

The gem's pleas touched Tibbets, but he would not be swayed. Since the day he met Steven, he had been fighting.  
He thought he could stop it or learn to control it, but he was wrong. The fight was kicked out of him. If he couldn't kill her, then he would weaken her.  
He had to extinguish the fires of the furnace.

"I'm sorry," he cried out one last time. "I can't fight anymore!"

He squeezed back on the trigger.

"No!" Steven screamed.

With a bright flash and a loud bang, blood sprayed out as the bullet tore through Tibbets' head. Everything seemed to slow down all at once.  
Steven ran to Tibbets while Pearl reached out to stop him.  
The gun slipped out of Tibbets' lifeless grip.  
Amethyst recoiled in horror while Garnet ran to support Pearl.  
Tibbets' glassed over eyes rolled back into his head as his body crumpled to the floor.  
With a dull thud, his head hit the ground.

"Steven, stop!" Pearl screamed as she grabbed his hand. "The heat is too intense! You'll get burned!"

"Get off of me!" Steven cried as he thrashed against her grip.

"Listen to her, Steven!" Garnet yelled as she grabbed him by the shoulder. "There's nothing more we can do!"

"No, there has to be!" Steven protested as he struggled in vain to break out of their grasp. "We're the Crystal Gems! We always find a way!"

Pearl spun Steven around and held him tightly. Amethyst put her arms around Steven to keep him from fighting and to comfort him, if any comfort could be found.  
Pearl may have not liked Tibbets very much, but felt that his death was on their hands.

"He didn't deserve this!" she cried. "We should have seen it sooner!"

Steven held Tibbets' rusty heirloom close to his chest.

"This can't be real!" he sobbed as he looked down at the dog tags that were still warm from Tibbets' body heat. "Please tell me this isn't real!"

"We know how much he meant to you," Garnet stated with a slight tremble in her voice.

Steven felt Amethyst's soft hair against his neck as well as her wet tears.

"We're sorry Steven!" she sobbed. "We should have stopped him!"

Surrounded by the warmth and love of the gems, Steven wailed louder that he ever had before.  
This pain was new to him, this pain was the worst pain he had ever felt.  
The pain of a brother in mourning.  
No more sitting by the docks.  
No more laughs, no more jokes.  
No more stories about the past.  
No more Tibbets.

* * *

Over their collective lamenting, a deep laughter echoed through the chamber.

"His death means nothing," it mocked. "If anything, I should thank him. All that struggling worked up my appetite!"

Tibbets' corpse began to writhe and flail as if snakes were worming through his body. Like a rickety broken marionette, his body stood up off the ground.  
The cables attached to his back burst from the heart and fell limply to the ground.  
Suddenly, his mouth opened and a steady stream of liquid Uranium gushed from his eyes and mouth.  
The liquid metal geysered out and poured down over his body.  
Black smoke filled the room as his clothes and flesh burnt off.  
As more layers of metal cooled and engulfed Tibbets' body, it began to smooth out into a curved feminine shape.  
Slowly, the metal cooled and hardened. Everything became still and silent; the calm before the storm.

A dull beating came from within the metal shell. The beating sounded like a heart beat, and it was growing faster.  
A huge crack split down the metal shell with a white light beaming out through it. Slowly, more cracks snaked over the shell.  
Steven's gem flashed and surrounded the gems in a shield.

Suddenly, the shell blew apart with a blinding and intense blast. As the dust settled, the gems got their first look at what they were facing.  
Standing at least seven feet tall before the awe struck gems stood the False Gem.  
With an amorous moan, the False gem stretched her body.

"Mmmm...feels so good to stretch after being cooped up for so long," she moaned as she caressed her naked figure.

Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven were all too shocked to speak. Pearl covered Steven's eyes once it dawned on her that the False gem was naked.  
Slowly, the shock turned into anger. Whatever that thing was, it was the one who had caused everything to fall apart. It had attacked the city back in 1991.  
It had tricked Rose into breaking her oath. It had just killed an innocent human, and was now rubbing itself and moaning like a whore!

"What kind of abomination are you?" Pearl said with anger radiating off of every word.

The False gem smiled and licked her lips lustfully.

"Oh, I've had so many names," she sighed as molten metal snaked up her body to form armor that hardly covered anything.

"Most of them were just the last thing some of your fellow gems cursed."

She thought back over the years. She smiled as she remembered all of the faces of her victims, and their different tastes.

"Lets see...The Destroyer," she chuckled.

"Whore of Babylon...liked that one."

Her piercing white eyes where filled with a sadistic sense of pride as she named off her titles.

"You little cuties may call me, Geissel."


	20. Chapter 20 : Firestorm

Chapter 20

* * *

In all of the centuries the Crystal gems had protected humanity, they had never once confronted something of such unnatural power.  
The False gem's mere presences was corrupting the crystal heart chamber, burning it with the invisible fires of radiation.  
It was an abomination; a bastard child of dark magic and cold, unfeeling science.  
Had Steven's shields not been protecting them, the levels of radiation emanating from the False gem would have incapacitated the three gems and would have instantly killed him. Geissel's piercing eyes looked over the gems hungrily. Her mouth watered at the thought of their taste.  
The gem she wanted the most was Steven's. He was the son of Rose Quarts, the gem who ruined her.  
A sharp pain sparked in her chest as she remembered Rose's sword piercing her Uranium core.  
Like the crystal gem's gemstones, Geissel's molten core was her source of power, but also her greatest flaw.  
Having been birthed through artificial means, Geissel's crystal body was not strong enough to contain the raw power and heat of her core.  
That's why she needed to feed off of other gems, she would melt down their gemstones and fuse the molten matter into her body, thus thickening her crystal form. Should too much time pass between each feeding, her body would slowly turn back into the disgusting, emaciated weakling that it once was.  
Geissel was not about to let that happen. But, with a gemstone like Rose's, she could finally have a body that would not beak down.  
As far as she was concerned, the three other gems were merely appetizers.

* * *

Geissel crossed her arms and sighed softly.

"Must we really fight?" she asked in a uninterested tone. "It would be so much easier if you handed the boy over."

Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl all readied their weapons. If the False gem wanted Steven, she would have to get through them first.

"Gauntlets, a whip, and a spear...really?" Geissel asked in a condescending voice. "So that's the game you gems wanted to play? A friendly game of you show me yours and I'll show you mine?"

A dull orange glow pulsed in Geissel's stomach.

"Well, you've shown me yours, now I'll show mine!"

With a wicked smile, Geissel opened her mouth. A bright orange glow beamed out of her throat and burst from her mouth.  
She then pulled a long, white hot metal pike out of her mouth. She took the metal pike and spun it above her head.  
The end of the pike warped into an axe blade topped with a long spike. On the back side of the axe blade formed a curved hook.  
Geissel then slammed the weapon against the ground. The rough, metal shattered to reveal a polished and cruel looking halberd that was at least eight feet long. Geissel raised the halberd with one hand and pointed it towards the gems.

"Is that envy I smell?" she asked with a smile. "Don't worry, you'll all get to touch it."

Pearl looked over her shoulder at Steven.

"Run Steven," she ordered. "Get as far away from here as possible."

"No way!" Steven protested. "I'm not gonna-"

"Damn it Steven, listen to me!" Pearl snapped. "We can't fight her and keep you safe at the same time!"

"She's right, Steven," Garnet stated with an even headed tone. "You will be safer away from the temple."

"Yeah, Steven," Amethyst added. "You go somewhere safe, we can handle this bitch!"

Steven hesitated, he didn't want to leave his friends to face this threat alone. Pearl took a battle stance and raised her spear.

"Go!" she ordered urgently.

Realizing the amount of danger he was about to be in, Steven ran back into the temple.  
With Steven out of the rapidly approaching war zone, the gems all readied themselves to attack the False gem.  
Geissel began to laugh. If the gems wanted a battle, she would give them one.

"So, are we gonna take turns? Or-" she paused as she took a battle stance. "Is this gonna be a four-some?"

The gems all knew what was at stake. If they lost this battle, they would be killed or worse. But they would gladly lay down their lives if it meant protecting Rose's child from this monster. They all knew how to proceed, they all would attack on Garnet's order. After a long silence, Garnet slammed her gauntlets together.

"Attack!"

With a loud war cry, the gem charged Geissel at once. If they were going to defeat her, they would need to rely on each other.

"Don't worry," Geissel cackled as she charged the gems, her halberd throwing sparks as she dragged it behind her. "I'll be gentle!"

* * *

Steven ran as fast as he could. He didn't stop running until his legs and lungs cried for him to stop. By the time he stopped, he had ran all the way down to the beach. He looked back at the temple and prayed that his friends would be okay. Just as he had caught his breath, an explosion rocked the temple.  
The walls of the heart chamber began to crumble. Through the thick dust cloud, Steven could see the flashing of weapons and hear the cries of battle.  
The gems kept up a constant flurry of attacks against the False gem.  
Amethyst unrelentingly lashed out with her whip, keeping the False gem constantly focused on her.  
Pearl would kept Geissel's halberd busy with attacks from her spear, while Garnet threw her earth shattering punches.  
But even with their combined strength, the three gems could not land an attack strong enough to really hurt the False gem.  
She swung her halberd as if it weighed nothing and used it's reach to keep the gems at bay. The nature of her weapon meant that Geissel had options with its use. She could swing it like an axe, thrust it like a spear, or bludgeon the gems with the blade-less end of the halberd.

"Is this all Rose's gems can offer?" she mocked as she swung her halberd, narrowly missing Garnet's head by mere inches.

"I expected better!"

In her arrogance, she dropped her guard long enough for Amethyst to land an attack. Geissel felt a sharp coiling around her wrist as Amethyst's whip constricted it tightly.

"Garnet, now!" she cried out.

Garnet slid under the swing of Geissel's halberd and slammed her fist against her face.  
Geissel staggered back in pain and sprayed Garnet with a blast of molten Uranium from her mouth.  
While Garnet's guard was down, Geissel pierced her ankle with her halberd's hook. She then swung her halberd and flung Garnet through the temple wall.

"Now things are getting fun!" she hissed giddily.

She then wrapped her hand around Amethyst's whip and gave it a powerful pull. Taken by surprise, Amethyst was pulled along with her whip.  
With a loud crack, Geissel slammed her forehead against Amethyst's with the force of a train wreck.  
Amethyst fell limply to the ground and was then kicked through the temple wall.  
Pearl was now alone in the fight, and she knew she was vastly outmatched.

"Just you and me now, cutie," Geissel hissed playfully as she ran her tongue along her teeth.

Pearl did not dignify the False gem with a response. She had only one goal; protect Steven.  
As the two circled each other, Pearl noticed that a spot on Geissel's chest was cracking.  
Despite her boasting, Tibbets had managed to weaken her by interrupting the False gem's incubation.  
Geissel may have been much younger than her opponent, but she wasn't stupid. She had killed dozens of gems and had became quite good at it.  
One thing she had learned from her previous battles, was how to tell when her opponent was planning something.

"You're much more...proper than the other two," she stated with a perverse smile. " I bet you gemstone tastes sweet, like unspoiled fruit."

"You're disgusting," Pearl spat angrily.

"And you're a prude!" Geissel cackled as she thrust her halberd towards the gem.

Pearl parried the attack only to receive a sharp elbow blow to the cheek. Luckily, Pearl was recovered fast enough to dodge Geissel's next attack.  
The key to survive the battle was to keep moving and to never stand still. With her natural grace, Pearl kept dodging the False gem's attacks.  
Finally, Geissel grew tried of their little game.

"Hold still, damn it!" she growled as she swung her halberd.

Seeing an opening, Pearl slid under the attack and drove her spear into the False gem's chest. Geissel screeched with pain as the spear cracked her crystal like shell.

"You little vixen," she hissed angrily as she clutched her chest.

Her body flashed bright like magnesium. Pearl blocked her eyes for a split second, then felt a vice like grip crushing her neck.

"You dance like an angel, Pearl," Geissel growled as she held Pearl up by the neck. "Lets see if you can fly like one."

The False gem then drew her arm back and threw Pearl out the blasted hole in the temple wall.  
Pearl hurtled through the air before she slammed into the beach face first.  
Through the cloud of kicked up sand, Steven could see that she wasn't moving.

"Pearl!" Steven cried out as he ran to her. "Pearl, please say something!"

Racked with pain, Pearl rolled over on her back.

"Steven...I told you to run," Pearl rasped weakly.

"Yes, Steven, you should listen to your elders!" a wicked voice cackled.

Steven spun around and saw Geissel standing on the beach, her halberd raised.

"I wanna see how far you'll get before you collapse!"

Geissel slammed her halberd on the ground and unleashed a blast of heat that cut through the sand and turned it into glass.  
Steven's gem flashed as a shield surrounded him and Pearl. The blast of heat shattered the shield with little effort.  
Luckily, the shield dispersed enough of the heat to only leave him singed.  
With both Steven and Pearl too hurt to move, Geissel casually approached them, twirling her monstrous halberd playfully.  
Pearl managed to pull herself over to Steven and covered him with her body to protect him.

"I wont let you harm him!" she cried out angrily.

Geissel chuckled then kicked Pearl onto her back. She then raised her halberd so that its pike was aimed at Pearl's throat.

"Who's gonna stop me?"

"We are!"

A loud crack was followed by Amethyst's whip wrapping tightly around Geissel's neck. With a loud gagging noise, Geissel was pulled backwards.  
Seizing the moment, Pearl drove her spear deep into the crack in Geissel's chest.

"Now, Garnet!" Amethyst yelled loudly.

With her fist drawn back, Garnet hurtled through the air. Pearl grabbed Steven and lept out of the way.  
With all of her strength, Garnet slammed her fists into Geissel's back, forcing her down onto Pearl's spear and slamming her against the ground with a cataclysmic shock wave. Unable to see through the thick cloud of sand, Garnet lept out of the cloud and regrouped with the other gems.  
The gems all stood on guard as an eerie silence filled the battlefield.

"Is she dead?" Steven asked worriedly.

"I pierced her core," Pearl stated firmly. "She should be dead."

"Don't let your guard down," Garnet ordered. "I have a bad feeling..."

From within the sand cloud, an orange flash of light surged and pulsed.

"Crap," Amethyst groaned.

As the cloud of sand cleared, the gems finally understood the power that they faced. Standing with her hair writhing like snakes stood the False gem.  
With a pained grunt, she ripped Pearl's spear out of her chest and snapped it in half. A cloud of irradiated dust rose off of her and molten Uranium dripped from her chest.

"Guys...I think we just made her angrier," Amethyst's stated worriedly.

Pearl could sense the radiation bombarding their shields. This False gem was like a walking Chernobyl disaster. The amount of power held within her body was unbelievable.

"Angry?" Geissel hissed through her teeth. "Oh, I'm not angry."

She flashed blindingly bright then reappeared inches in front of the gems.

"I'm pissed!"


	21. Chapter 21: Subcritical

Chapter 21

* * *

"If I were you, I'd start running, boy," Geissel hissed as she stared down the three gems. "I'll get to you when I'm done with your friends."

Steven looked up at Pearl, hoping she would know what to do. She looked back to him and gave him a nod as if telling him to take the advice.  
Steven took a few steps back before bolting towards town. Once he was out of sight, Geissel's body body began to glow a dull orange.  
She could feel her core burning in her chest.

"So, you've found my tickle spot, goodie for you," she hissed as she ran her clawed finger across her bosom. "Lets see if I can find yours."

Her hands began to glow and pulse with light. Her fingers warped into long, curved claws and dripped with molten slag.

"I was going to eat you three first, then kill Steven. But, I think I'll make you three watch as I tear out his gemstone. That is if you can survive long enough..."

Before the gems could retaliate, the False gem released a pulse of energy from her body that threw the gems back.  
Staggered, the gems were unable to see the False gem charging at them before it was too late.  
Geissel grabbed Pearl by the arm and slammed her into Garnet's gauntlets, who was then kicked in the stomach and sent tumbling backwards.  
With Pearl still in her clawed grip, Geissel snagged Amethyst by the hair and slammed the two gems together.  
She then threw them at Garnet and lept through the air towards them. With her fists raised, Geissel slammed down onto the gems with a blast of heat and radiation. The blast formed a tiny mushroom cloud. Scorched and heavily irradiated, the three gems were thrown out of the cloud and then tumbled in the sand.  
The False gem smirked, in all, her assault had only taken a total of six seconds to complete.  
But she soon realized that the Crystal Gems were not the push overs her past meals had been.  
Garnet was the first back on her feet, her shades were shattered and her face was bloodied.  
Pearl forced herself off of the ground, her wrist was broken and her arms were baldly burnt.  
Amethyst stood up uneasily, her face was badly bruised and her nose was bleeding.  
Geissel could not believe how determined the three gems were at protecting the child.  
She had burned and battered their bodies far more than the other gems she had battled. She had underestimated their strength.

"You don't know when to stay down, do you?" she laughed cruelly.

She took a step forward but suddenly felt a crippling pain tear through her chest. She looked down at her chest and could see her core burning through her crystal body.

"No, I need more time!" she cursed as she clutched her chest. "I need to feed!"

Geissel looked to the gems, then back up at the exposed crystal heart in the temple. The crystal heart at best would buy her more time.  
It would have to do.  
But then there was the issue of the three gems and what to do with them. She had no time to waste on them.  
If she couldn't have them, then her elite Burners would have them.

Geissel bit into her wrist and squeezed out three thick pools of liquid Uranium.

"Do with them what you will, children!" she ordered loudly before leaping for the temple. "Mommy needs a little pick-me-up."

Out of the pools of metal, three humanoid figures clawed their way into the world. The three elite Burners were seven feet tall and had razor sharp teeth and claws. Garnet held out her arm and signaled Amethyst and Pearl to stay back.

"Leave them to me," she stated flatly. "They aren't hot enough to burn me."

"But me and Pearl can't stop Geissel on our own!" Amethyst protested.

"She's right," Pearl stated in a panicked tone. "She'll tear us apart."

"This isn't a job for Amethyst or Pearl," Garnet responded coolly. "It's a job for Opal."

Amethyst and Pearl both gave each other a surprised look. It had been a while since they last needed Opal, but both gems knew that her strength was greatly needed.

"Alright, we'll form Opal," Pearl stated as she snapped her wrist back into place.

Amethyst wiped the blood from her nose and stretched her limbs.

"Yeah, Opal can take that freak!" she exclaimed eagerly.

Garnet nodded her head then turned back to the three Burners.

"I'll go find Steven once I take care of these three," she stated as she cracked her knuckles. "You two go find a place where you can fuse. Good luck."

While Amethyst and Pearl ran to find a safe place to preform the fusion ritual, Garnet was left to fight the three elite Burners.  
Two of the Burners bolted after Amethyst and Pearl, but where stopped by a well placed punch that sent them crashing into each other.  
They quickly recovered and set their sights on Garnet. Like hungry wolves, the Burners circled the gem, snapping their jaws and snarling.  
Garnet was not fazed by their threats. She had killed dozens of Burners with Rose, three more would not stop her. She raised her fists and readied for their attack.

"I don't have all day," she sassed coldly, hoping to hasten the battle.

With a grinding roar, the infernal creatures attacked.

Garnet ducked as the first Burner lunged for her head, and slammed her fist into the second one's face.  
The third Burner managed to latch onto her back and sink it's teeth into her shoulder.  
Using the second Burner as a club, Garnet bludgeoned the third Burner off her shoulder.  
As the second and third Burner recovered, the first Burner raked it's claws up Garnet's back.  
Even with searing pain tearing through her back, Garnet spun around and kicked the Burner in the mouth.  
Before it could get back up, Garnet raised her foot and stomped down on its head, crushing it in a spray of liquid metal.

"One down," Garnet said aloud as she turned to the remaining two Burners. "Two to go."

Unfazed by the death of their brother, the second and third Burner both charged Garnet.  
The second Burner sprayed it's molten slag vomit at Garnet's face in an attempt to blind her.  
Garnet managed to dodge the attack but failed to block the rending claws of the third Burner.  
Like a white hot scalpel, the Burner's claws slashed across Garnet's face and sliced open her right eye.  
Now half blinded and agonized, Garnet felt a set of jaws clamp down onto her left arm.  
As she fought to get the creature off of her arm, the second Burner bit down onto her right arm.  
A very big mistake.  
With the strength to shatter mountains, Garnet smashed her hands together, crushing the two Burners to death.  
As their bodies crumbled into dust, Garnet let out an exhausted sigh.  
Her back was bleeding and she couldn't see out of her right eye. With the Burners dealt with, Garnet ran and followed Steven's foot prints.

Suddenly, a blinding white light flashed behind her.

"It's about time you showed up," Garnet stated with a smirk.

* * *

The crystal heart was barely beating, but Geissel didn't care. All the wanted was the precious life blood that flowed through the heart.  
After reforging her halberd, Geissel slashed open the crystal heart. She laughed gleefully as the fresh blood rained down onto her.

"That's what mamma needs!" she hissed happily as the blood poured over her.

With her hands cupped and mouth wide open, the False gem drank mouthful after mouthful of the crystal blood.  
She could feel her body regaining it's strength as the crystal blood sealed her cracked chest.  
The warmth, the smell, the taste, she found it oh so intoxicating.  
As the crystal heart stopped bleeding, the entire temple went dark and deathly silent.  
Satisfied with her meal, Geissel sat down an licked the blood off of herself.

"Tastes like virgin gemstone," she sighed happily as she licked the sparkling crimson liquid from her palm.

With her stomach pleasantly full, Geissel decided it was time to hunt down the child. She ran her hand down her stomach.  
She was so full, but always could make room for more.

"Ready or not, here I come!" she cackled as she twirled her halberd playfully.

Out of nowhere came a flash of blue light followed by a sudden and intense pain in Geissel's shoulder. She reached back and ripped out a blue crystal arrow.  
With an angry growl, she spun around to face her attacker.  
Standing at least eight feet tall, with the string of her bow still vibrating, stood the four armed, long haired, and sky blue eyed Opal.  
Before Geissel could react, Opal fired another arrow. The arrow split into a volley of arrows. With her hands covering her chest, Geissel held fast against the storm of arrows. She realized that her halberd would be of little use against Opal's long ranged attacks. Geissel hissed in frustration and shattered the halberd.

"So, that's what you two look like mashed together," she stated coldly.

A loud cracking noise echoed through the chamber followed by four beams of light that shown through her back.  
Suddenly, four molten metal limbs burst out of her back. The limbs cracked and shaped into four sets of arms, all glowing hot and dripping with slag.

"I'm curious as to what your combined flavors will taste like," Geissel mocked as she licked her lips in a disgusting mixture of hunger and lust.

Through her teeth, a large amount of heat and radiation began to build and leak out.

"You will never find out," Opal stated coolly as she readied her bow.

"I disagree."

With a thunderous boom, Geissel fired a focused beam of x-ray-heated air. The beam, which was over 7000ºF, easily sliced through the temple floor and wall.  
Had Opal been a bit slower, she would have been instantly vaporized. The attack left a glowing hot scar in the temple floor and wall.  
Satisfied with her show of force, Geissel blew a ring of smoke from her mouth.

"I'm going to burn your shadow into the ground!" she roared as she recharged her attack.

Opal drew back her bow and readied an arrow. This was going to be a challenge, for both of them.  
On one hand, Opal had greater speed and could rapidly attack from a distance.  
On the other hand, Geissel had a very powerful but slow firing ranged attack as well as more endurance.  
It was going to be a battle of speed and grace vs durability and raw power. One way or another, this was a dance only one would walk away from.

"I'm sending you back to Hell!" Opal cried out as she began to fire a volley of arrows.

Geissel was fast, but not nearly fast enough to dodge all of the arrows. But with the blood of the crystal heart still fresh in her stomach, her body was twice as thick as it had been. Opal's arrows could pierce through Geissel's skin, but could not pierce deep enough to damage her core.  
Without so much as a wince of pain, Geissel ripped the arrows out of her.

"Burn!"

A bright light flashed from her mouth as she fired another beam of x-ray-heated air. With her natural grace, Opal dodged the beam.  
However, the flash from the blast temporarily blinded her. Before she could refocus, Opal felt six sets of super heated claws rake across her stomach and thighs.  
She staggered back and slammed her bow into Geissel's face. The False gem reared back and fired another heat beam.  
Injured, Opal managed to avoid the beam by only mere inches from her face. The intense heat scorched her skin and made her lose her balance.  
She tried to push herself back up but found that she felt incredibly off balance. She thought nothing of it at first.  
It wasn't until she tried to draw her bow did she realize with horror the extent of her injuries. In the blast, she had lost her lower left arm.  
She hadn't felt anything because the beam had flash vaporized the nerve endings before they could signal pain.  
As Opal regained her balance, Geissel let out a cruel laugh.

"Missing something?" she cackled as she blew a puff of smoke.

Opal responded by firing an arrow that punched right through the False gem's left eye. She shrieked in pain as she tore the arrow out of her eye.

"You tell me," Opal stated coldly with a smirk.

The crystal shell around Geissel's eye socket cracked and split. Seething with anger, she began to fire her beam in rapid bursts.  
Opal had to move as fast as she could to avoid the attacks. Arrow after arrow she fired as she tried to dodge the deadly heat beams.  
Geissel could smell the exhaustion building in her opponent. It was only a matter of time before she would break her.  
While dodging the heat beams, Opal drew back her bow and charged the arrow with as much mystical energy as she could spare.  
As the False gem charged another heat beam, Opal let the arrow fly. At that moment, Geissel fired her charged heat beam.  
Once the mystically charged arrow collided with the heat beam, they both erupted in a massive explosion.  
The explosion was so large that Steven; who had ran into town, could see it's flash.

* * *

Steven watched as the fire ball faded.

"Please be okay guys," he begged.

He heard a dull thud from behind him and spun around to find a badly wounded Garnet standing behind him.

"Garnet!" Steven exclaimed as he ran to her. "Where's Amethyst and Pearl?"

Garnet looked up towards the temple in the distance.

"They formed Opal," she stated flatly, not wanting Steven to hear how much pain she was in.

"They formed Opal?" Steven asked with excitement. "That fake gem doesn't stand a chance!"

Not wanting to stay in one spot for too long, Garnet grabbed Steven and started to run away from the temple.

"We have to keep moving!" she stated with an urgent tone. "Opal is strong, but I don't know if-"

A second explosion boomed in the distance behind them. Then out of the sky crashed a baldy burnt Opal. The force of her impact caused the street to buckle and crack.

"Opal!" Steven cried out.

With obvious difficulty, Opal strained her neck to look at him.

"Ste-"

Before she could groan out his name, Opal was smashed further into the ground by the False gem. The shock wave from the second impact threw Garnet and Steven backwards. As the dust settled, Geissel stood triumphantly over Opal's broken body.

"You know what?" Geissel hissed with a sadistic smile. "I think you look a bit too-"

She paused as she pressed her foot down onto Opal's collar bone and grabbed her arm.

"Asymmetrical."

With a horrifying snap and blood curdling scream, Geissel tore Opal's arm off. Sky blue blood sprayed from the bleeding stump while Geissel ran her tongue through the severed arm's fingers.

"There you go, nice and symmetrical."

Opal's eyes rolled back into her head and with a flash of light, Amethyst and Pearl were thrown apart.  
Before the two gems could react, Geissel grabbed both of them by their waists and used her second pair of arms to hold them still.  
Geissel held up the unconscious Amethyst and slowly ran her tongue along her gemstone.

"Hmm...salty, yet tangy," she said thoughtfully as she studied the taste.

She then held up Pearl who was very much awake and fighting. Her struggling only seemed to encourage the False gem.  
She held her up and licked her gemstone, and her cheek.

"Ooh, I was right," she hissed playfully. "Sweet and unspoiled."

The False gem then smashed the two gems together and dropped them with Steven watching helplessly.  
Geissel's mouth began to glow a bright orange.  
Garnet took Steven and threw him out of the way but could not avoid the blast of concentrated radiation.  
Blood gushed from her nose as she feel to her knees only to be stomped in the face by the cruel False gem.

"Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, please get up!" Steven cried with terror.

They didn't respond, none of them were moving.  
As the False gem approached him, he began to run but was stopped in his tracks as a halberd pierced the ground in front of him.  
Terrified, Steven turned around and found himself face to face with the smiling face of the False gem. She reached over him and pulled the halberd out of the ground. She giggled and spun the halberd in the air before raising the blade up to Steven's neck.

"It's just you and me now, kid."


	22. Chapter 22 : Meltdown

Chapter 22

* * *

Steven stood petrified with fear. He could feel the icy cold blade of the halberd against his neck. The False gem smiled coldly, she was so close to her goal and she wanted to savor every second.

"It took me twenty-two years to heal after what your mother did to me," she hissed venomously. "Yet it only took me an hour to kill your friends. I wish I could see the look on her face."

She raised her halberd; she was finally going to remove the last thorn in her side. Steven shut his eyes and braced himself.  
He was so scared; he was about to die and leave his friends behind, this time for good.

_Goodbye Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Connie, Dad. _Steven bid them farewell. This was it, the end of the line.

Suddenly a loud bang split the silence and staggered the False gem.

"Get away from my son you bitch!"

Both Steven and the False gem turned to see Greg standing defiantly with a shotgun.  
With a loud click, Greg ejected the empty shell and chambered the next shell of buckshot.  
He fired the shotgun again and struck the False gem in the face. Unfortunately, the buckshot pellets did nothing to her other than aggravate her.

"Stupid ape!" she spat as she swung her halberd, slamming Greg in the side with the blunt end of the weapon.

The force of the impact knocked the air out of Greg's lungs as he slammed into the side of his van.

"Dad!" Steven cried out as he ran to him.

Greg grabbed Steven and held him close to him and turned his back to the False gem.  
If she wanted to get to his son, then Greg would gladly trade his life for Steven's. Geissel growled as her mouth began to glow and steam.

"I'll char your skin and render the fats from your body!"

The moment she opened her mouth to unleash the heat beam, a pair of gauntlets grabbed the top of her head and pulled her neck back, forcing the beam to be fired into the sky.

"How are you three still-"

She was silenced as Pearl lept onto her shoulders and drove her spear through her mouth.  
With a loud crack, Amethyst's whip coiled around Geissel's legs and pulled them out from under her.  
With Geissel fighting to break free, the three gems used whatever strength they had left to keep her restrained.

"Greg, take Steven and run!" Garnet ordered as she strained against the False gem's resistance.

"But what about-"

"Forget about us!" Pearl exclaimed with desperation in her voice. "Just get Steven far away from here!"

"Hurry, we can't hold her for much longer!" Amethyst exclaimed as she struggled to keep her grip on the whip.

Seeing how grim the situation had become, Greg scooped Steven up and threw him in his van.

"Hold on Steve!" he exclaimed as he slammed his foot down on the gas. The tires squealed as the car tore down the road.

No stop signs, no red lights, not even the cops where going to stop Greg. He recklessly drove through the city at breakneck speeds.

"Dad, where are we going?!" Steven asked as he clung to his seat.

"Anywhere but back there!" Greg exclaimed as he speed through a four lain intersection. "What was that thing?!"

"I-it's a gem, but not a real one, or something, I don't know, but it wanted to eat me!" Steven responded as best as he could.

"Eat you?!" Greg exclaimed with disgust. "Why does it wanna eat you?!"

"I don't know, she's evil and...and I left the gems to fight her alone." Steven began to whimper as tears rolled down his face.

"They're gonna die, aren't they?"

"Don't say that! Don't you ever say that!" Greg ordered. "The gems always save the day, you just wait and see!"

Greg's words did little to comfort Steven. No matter how he looked at it, he had left his family to fight that monster alone and they would probably die fighting it.

"Okay-okay, idea. There's an old bomb shelter in the old side of town," Greg stated. "If we can get to it, then maybe-"

Suddenly, the sound of breaking metal burst out as the False gem slammed down into the front of the van.  
Steven watched horrified as the nose of the van crumpled like cardboard underneath the False gem's feet.  
Everything seemed to slow down as the wreck played out.  
Greg slammed down on the breaks for whatever good the would do.  
The air bags blew out and burnt Steven's face and arms.  
Glass flew everywhere as the windshield shattered.  
The tires skidded against the street leaving black marks behind them.  
Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were all still clinging and fighting against the False gem.  
Blood dripped alongside molten slag as they fought tooth and nail.  
Geissel's teeth were bared down on Pearl's spear.  
Amethyst's crystal thorned whip had cut deep gashes into Geissel's legs.  
Garnet had her hands wrapped tightly around Geissel's neck and had her teeth biting down onto one of the extra arms.  
Pearl held tightly onto her spear and made sure it stayed impaled through the False gem's mouth.  
All of this was happening as the van began to flip forward. The van flipped and rolled in a shower of sparks and glass.  
With the loud scrapping sound of metal against concrete, the van ground to a halt.

* * *

Steven's eyes flickered open, he was alive but couldn't feel his legs. Too dazed to even panic, he looked over to his father.  
Greg was out cold and bloodied up, but he was alive. Using his arms, Steven pulled himself from the wreckage.  
He was greeted by the frightening cries of battle as the gems fought the False gem with everything they had left.  
They were growing tired, as was Geissel.  
Garnet rolled underneath a swing of Geissel's halberd and landed a punch right into Geissel's mouth, forcing the spear out through the back of her head.  
Pearl slid underneath the Geissel's legs, retrieved her spear, and drove it deep into Geissel's back.  
Using her extra arms, Geissel grabbed Pearl and slammed her into the ground.  
Amethyst lashed her whip across Geissel's back, leaving deep gashes in her back.  
Geissel hissed with pain and landed an uppercut into Amethyst's jaw that threw her backwards.  
With a swing of her halberd, Geissel drove the curved hook into Amethyst's side.  
With Amethyst still skewered, the False gem brought the axe blade down onto Garnet's gauntlets, shattering them.  
Even unarmed, Garnet wasn't about to give up the fight. Garnet tackled Geissel and threw her into a building.  
As the False gem burst back out of the building she received a light pole to the face by Garnet, who was wielding it like a club.  
Garnet swung the light pole again except this time, the False gem caught the attack.  
Before she could respond to the attack, Pearl ran up the light pole and drove her spear into Geissel's injured eye.  
As she reared back in pain, Amethyst coiled her whip tightly around the False gem's body. Seeing the opening, Garnet charged and pounded her fists into the False gem's chest, cracking it wide open. Steven couldn't believe what he was seeing.  
Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, they weren't giving the False gem an inch. Relentlessly they attacked and wounded her.  
They weren't giving up, and they wouldn't be stopped.  
For once, everything looked as though they had the upper hand.  
How wrong they were.

"I-have-had-enough!"

With a blinding flash of light, Geissel's core unleashed a massive shock wave of heat and radiation.  
The blast blew apart any buildings that were near her and burnt a crater into the ground. Out of the fireball flew Garnet and Amethyst.  
Garnet hit the ground and rolled to a stop next to Greg's van. Amethyst hit the ground and dug up the road until she finally stopped.

"Garnet, Amethyst" Steven cried out to his friends.

Garnet tried to move, but couldn't. Her back was broken and she couldn't feel her arms or legs.  
Amethyst laid crumpled on the ground, staring at the sky with glassy eyes. Her gemstone had taken all the radiation it could handle.  
She couldn't see, she couldn't move, all she could hear were deafening sirens.  
The only gem left that stood in Geissel's way was a badly beaten Pearl.

The two stared at each other, their eyes filled with determination and fury.

"Move, Gem," Geissel spat hatefully. She had had enough of this little game of theirs.

Pearl raised her spear defiantly.

"You will not hurt him, not while I still draw breath!" Pearl exclaimed angrily as she began to attack. "I promised Rose I would protect her child, and I swore on my life I would not fail her!"

"But he is not your child," Geissel stated flatly as she blocked Pearl's spear with her halberd. "Why do you insist on protecting what is not yours?"

A twisted grin crept across her lips.

"Ahh...you love him as your own, don't you? How precious."

With a furious scream, Pearl began to launch a barrage of attacks. Steven had never seen Pearl move so fast before. Her attacks lacked her usual grace but were nearly twice as fast.

"You would honestly protect a child that is not of your womb? Disgusting!" Geissel roared angrily. "He will never recognize you as a mother! And you know it, don't you?!"

"Shut up!"

"He will never be your child," Geissel hissed. "And it tears you up inside, doesn't it?"

"I said shut up!" Pearl screamed furiously.

"One thing Rose's death should have taught you gems, is that love-"

"Shut-"

A sudden crushing pain tore through Pearl's abdomen. Trembling, Peal glanced down and saw the pike of Geissel's halberd sinking into her stomach.  
Her body felt cold and numb. Suddenly, Geissel pulled Pearl closer to her face.

"Love brings the fall of gems."

The False gem drew her arm back and threw her halberd with Pearl skewered on the end. Pearl slammed into the side of Greg's van.  
Before she could even slid to the ground, she let out an agonized scream as Geissel drove the halberd deeper into her.  
As she slowly impaled Pearl on the van, Geissel began to sing.

"Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag and smile, smile, smile!"

She would twist the halberd each time she said 'smile'. Pearl screamed and screamed until she didn't have the strength left.  
She could feel the life draining from her physical form.  
She felt cold...so very cold.  
Pearl had been fighting the need to retreat into her gemstone for as long as she could.  
But the fight had been kicked out of her.  
She knew that them moment she retreated into her gemstone that she would be eaten Steven would be killed.  
She, the Crystal gems, had failed.

"St-Ste-Steven...I-I'm...sorry..." Pearl rasped out with tears pouring down her face. "I-I...l-love-"

A clawed hand turned Pearl's face up to Geissel's sneering maw.

"Leaving so soon?" she asked with a cruel smile. "You haven't seen the main event. I can't have you leaving."

Unable to do anything, Pearl felt Geissel's lips lock violently with hers. In that moment, Geissel's radioactive powers locked the gem's ability that allowed her to retreat into her gemstone. Pearl spat and cursed the moment the unwanted kiss was broken.

"Now, I will show you true suffering."

Geissel turned to were the crippled Steven was laying. He started to crawl desperately away from her, but couldn't escape. She picked him up by the back of the neck and held him up.

"Someone...help me," he whimpered as he gazed into the empty pits of Geissel's eyes.

"Please, let him go!" Pearl begged desperately. "Do whatever you want to me, just let him go!"

Geissel ran her hand through Steven's hair. The idea of eating a gem tainted with human blood disgusted her. But she had a way of fixing that problem.

"For twenty-two years I've hunted Rose Quarts, only to find you," she hissed coldly. "Her blood is strong, but the human blood has weakened it."

"Please, take me instead!" Pearl screamed.

Geissel smiled and held Steven's face up to hers.

"Consider this your baptism."

Geissel opened her mouth and bathed Steven in a concentrated beam of radiation.  
As the radiation tore into Steven, the human cells in his body began to die.  
His bones became brittle, his blood thinned, and his skin lost it's color and became tissue thin.  
His eyes rolled back as his brain began to die. Foam spilled out from his mouth and ran down his neck.  
The last thing he remembered hearing was Pearl's voice screaming out his name.

Geissel closed her mouth and smiled, the deed was done.  
Steven's head hung limply to the side. The amount of radiation in his body would have killed him had he not had Rose's gemstone protecting his soul.  
But the state he was in could hardly be called 'living'. Suddenly, his gem started to glow. At the same time, Geissel's body began to glow as well.  
Slowly, Geissel absorbed Steven into her body. Pearl could only watch in horror as her Steven slowly disappeared before her eyes.  
In mere seconds, his body was gone.  
Steven was dead.  
Geissel's body flashed and began to change shape. She grew taller, curvier, and her hair grew into curls. Her armor burnt and wove into a flowing black dress.  
Pearl could not believe what she was forced to witness. The False gem had eaten Steven's gemstone and was now evolving.

"I am completed!" Geissel laughed as the glow of her body faded.

Pearl was sickened at what stood before her. The curly hair, the thick body, the dress, even the smile, all looked like Rose's.  
Geissel felt unstoppable, with Rose finally hers, nothing was left to stop her.

"This pitiful planet will burn to a crisp! Radiation will cleanse this world of you and the humans! From the ashes I will raise my own empire! I am Geissel, the Destroyer of Worlds!"


	23. Chapter 23 : Count Down

Chapter 23

* * *

Everything felt cold. Nothing could be seen except a howling dark abyss. No light, no warmth, nothing. If this wasn't death, it sure felt like it.  
Steven couldn't remember what had happened or where he was.

"Where am I?" he asked himself. His voice echoed an distorted unnaturally as it traveled through the darkness.

"Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl! Where are you?!"

Again nothing answered back. Steven let out a small scream as he noticed that he was translucent. What he could see of himself was sickly pale and thin.  
Finally, he remembered, Geissel had eaten him. She had won. This was it, he was dead. A overwhelming sadness came crashing down on him.  
He was dead, and this cold, dark void was his afterlife. Steven curled up into a ball and began to cry.

"I want my mom! I want my dad! I want to be back with Garnet, Amethyst, and Pear..."

As he sank deeper into despair, he began to hear whispers overlapping each other.

_It's the one._

_ The one._

_ The half blood._

_ Our liberator._

_ There is hope now._

_ Hope._

The whispers became louder and louder. Steven covered his ears as the collective whispers blared like air raid sirens.

"Shut up!" he yelled angrily as the whispers became deafening.

At his command, the whispers stopped. In their place, he began to hear the sound of ocean waves and could smell sea salt.  
Convinced that this was just a cruel trick, Steven kept his eyes shut tightly and his ears covered. He suddenly felt something gently nudge against his back.

"Wake up," a ghostly voice echoed.

Steven refused to budge. He felt something nudge against him again.

"Wake up," a childish voice echoed softly.

Again, Steven refused to move. He pressed his hands down against his ears and began to roll back and forth.

"Damn it, wake up!" an irritated voice snapped.

Steven felt a sharp kick to his rear. With an angry yell, Steven sprang up and began to punch blindly. He refused to open his eyes out of fear.  
Despite swinging like mad, Steven's fist weren't hitting anything. It felt as though there was something pressing back on his forehead.

"Easy there, kid. You might hurt yourself."

Steven recognized the voice, but it couldn't be. Steven opened his eyes and looked up at the entity that was speaking.  
Standing with his arm keeping Steven held back was Tibbets. Steven's mind went blank.  
Unable to process what he was seeing, Steven began to poke and pull and tug on Tibbets' hand.

"I-is it really you?" Steven asked with a tremble in his voice.

Tibbets' smiled and lowered his sunglasses.

"In the flesh...kind of, it's kind of complicated."

With a happy squeal, Steven squeezed his arms tightly around Tibbets' waist.

"But I thought you were dead! You shot yourself!" Steven cried with his face buried into Tibbets' bomber jacket, confused but overjoyed.

Tibbets' patted Steven on the back and messed up his hair in that big brother kind of way.

"Yep, I was dead," he chuckled as he pointed at his temple like a gun. "Still got the hole in my noggin as proof. Wanna poke it?"

"Eww, no way!" Steven exclaimed as Tibbets turned his head to show off the bullet wound.

They both laughed loudly, which was welcomed my soft, ghostly laughs from all around them.

"How are you still-"

"Alive?" Tibbets asked. "Technically, I'm not. Neither are you. We're both inside of Geissel...my mom's stomach."

Steven's happiness shattered in an instant.

"Then she's won?" he asked with despair in his voice. "It's over?"

Suddenly, a loud collective wailing began to howl angrily.

_Not over!_

_ We hate her!_

_ She did this to us!_

_She must pay!_

At the sound of the voices, Steven ducked and covered his head.

"W-who's out there?!" he shouted shakily.

Tibbets sat down in front of Steven.

"Those voices, those ghostly whispers?" he asked the frightened Steven.

"Y-yeah, what are they?" Steven asked.

Tibbets put his hand on Steven's shoulder and looked him in the eyes.

"They are me, and I am them."

Steven looked at Tibbets with a very confused look on his face. None of what he had just heard made any sense.

"What do you mean?" he asked cautiously.

Tibbets sighed and leaned back on his arms and closed his eyes.

"This is a long ass story, but we're not going anywhere anytime soon."

_ The tale._

_ Tell it._

_ Our past._

_ Our lives._

_ Our deaths._

"In the seventy-two years my mother...Geissel has walked the earth, she gave birth to ninety-nine children. She used their flesh as a way of masking her powers, then forced me...them to hunt down more crystal gems. Here is where it gets really weird. She only truly gave birth to one child. Each new child was recycled. Each new child was altered slightly to make each one different, yet in the end, we...they were all still the same as the first. While our...their bodies were all basically the same, their minds, their hearts, their souls, those were separate and unique. Whenever mother...Geissel reforged herself, the child would die and be re-assimilated inside of her. It was their collective minds and souls that gave me the strength to pull the trigger. I interrupted Geissel's incubation and forced her to reveal herself."

"Your mother did the same thing with me twenty-two years ago," a second voice spoke.

Steven spun around and saw the ghostly figure of an emaciated man with a huge wound in his chest.

"When your mother...Rose ended my suffering, she gravely wounded mother. But she also sliced a piece out of mother's power core."

"Hey, I'm telling this story here," Tibbets stated annoyed. "Anyway, about the power core, it's like your gem's gemstones. It's her power source, without it she dies. And guess what."

"What?" Steven asked bursting with anticipation.

Tibbets gave a wicked smile and lifted up his shirt. Inside of his chest was a burning white Uranium pellet.

"I have the missing piece inside of me," he said with a low tone. "Its my power core now."

_ Ours now._

_ Judgment._

_ Kill her._

_ End it._

"Steven, I am the one-hundredth child of the False gem, and I'll be her last."

_Not enough._

_ Still too weak._

_ Need Rose._

_ She will help._

"What do they mean?" Steven asked, incredibly unnerved by the fact that they voices were growing louder.

"We...I am not strong enough to bust out of here," Tibbets said bitterly.

"Then who is?" Steven asked.

"You are," Tibbets and the voices all said at once. "You have your mother's gemstone. She was the one we have been waiting for."

Steven's gemstone began to glow along with Tibbets' power core.

"What are we gonna do?" Steven asked, feeling his gem's power pulse through his body.

Tibbets flashed a smile and folded up his sunglasses.

"Gems can fuse together, right?"

"Yep, I've seen the gems do it before," Steven answered. "Wait a minute, are you telling me that-"

"You're a half-gem, and I'm a... whatever, it should count for something." Tibbets responded.

"I know, but do you think it's gonna work?" Steven asked worriedly.

Tibbets threw his head back and laughed.

"I have no idea! That's why I'm excited!"

His eyes flashed a bright white.

"Are you ready to be the hero?"

"Yes..." Steven answered uneasily.

"Do you wanna save the city?!"

"Yes," Steven answered louder.

"You wanna save your friends?!"

"Yes!" Steven yelled back.

"You gonna let that fake gem bitch destroy the world?!"

"Hell no!" Steven yelled loudly, his heart pounding and his body trembling with excitement.

"Then lets bust out of here, and kick her ass!" Tibbets yelled as he slammed his fist into his palm.

"Now lets do the dance!" Steven yelled excitedly.

"What...dance?" Tibbets asked with confusion.

"Yeah, well that's what the gems do before they fuse," Steven answered as he took a dancing pose.

"We're men," Tibbets responded. "Men don't dance, we do overly complicated handshakes."

Steven deflated, slightly disappointed. He sighed and held out his hand.

"Now follow my lead," Tibbets stated. "Up high, down low, front hand, back hand, lock fingers, pull in, push back, and pound it. You get all that, kid?"

Steven nodded his head vigorously. He was ready to save the day.

"Alright, lets do it!" they both yelled.

"Up high!"

"Down low!"

"Front hand!"

"Back hand!"

"Lock fingers!"

"Pull in!"

"Push back!"

"And pound it!"

* * *

Geissel snapped her fingers and ordered two Burners to seize Garnet and Amethyst. The two gems were shackled in place next to the impaled Pearl.  
Everything was as she wanted it. Her body was finally perfect, the hunger was gone, and now the world sat at her clawed finger tips.  
The only thing left was to decide who to eat first. Her hunger was indeed gone, but why let three ripe gems go to waste?

In a cloud of black dust, Geissel wisped over to the still comatose Amethyst and began to eye her over like she was inspecting cattle.

"Not this one, too fat," she hissed. "I need to watch my figure you know."

She then wisped over to Pearl. She clicked her claws down the pole of the halberd then ran her fingers up Pearl's chest.  
Pearl didn't respond, her head hung low and her eyes were empty.

"Awww...where's all that fight you had earlier?" Geissel asked with a cold smile as she raised Pearl's head with her claw on her chin. "It added a spice to the flavor."

As Pearl looked into the False gem's eyes, she could see the same evil that bred the Nazi fascism still burning as bright as ever.  
The unholy creature that wore Rose's image was the living embodiment of mankind's destructive nature.  
Pearl had nothing left, Steven was dead and the world would soon follow.

"Kill me..."Pearl rasped quietly.

Geissel tightened her grip on the halberd and suddenly tore it out of Pearl. Too weak to even scream, Pearl crumpled to the ground.

"Please...just end it already," she sobbed.

Geissel was amused, she had broken the gem. A cruel idea popped into her head. She would use her new looks to further torment the shattered gem.  
She knelt down and pulled Pearl into a deceivingly gentle embrace.

"Oh, Pearl, your a mess," Geissel spoke softly, mimicking Rose's voice perfectly. "You always worked so hard."

In her shattered and desperate mind, Pearl felt a sense of comfort from the embrace. Her mind was so desperate for solace, that she mistook the burning heat of the False gem for the loving warmth of Rose.

Fooled by the False gem's guise, Pearl nuzzled her forehead against Geissel's.

"I'm so sorry, Rose," she whimpered. "I tried so hard...but..."

Geissel had the gem right where she wanted her.

"I always thought you were a disappointment, Pearl," Geissel hissed in Rose's voice. "All I asked was for you to keep my child safe, and you failed."

Geissel slapped her hand across Pearl's face. If Pearl was not broken before, she was now.

"You are so weak!" Geissel cackled hatefully. "Rose weeps in Hell!"

"Don't listen to her, Pearl!" Garnet ordered loudly. "We need to stay strong!"

Geissel wisped in front of Garnet with an unamused glare.

"You just don't get it do you?" she growled. "You've lost, its over. Strength will not save you or this pitiful planet!"

Garnet responded by hocking a mix of phlegm and blood into Geissel's eye. She recoiled and wiped the stringy goop from her eye.

"Bite me," Garnet cursed defiantly. If she was going to die, she was going to die fighting.

Geissel eyed over the gem, she like what she saw. Lean muscles, thick hips, and toned abs. Her favorite flavor; strength.

"With pleasure," she hissed hungrily as she raised her halberd. "You will be the first to join Steven in the void!"

Garnet shut her eyes and braced herself.

"Forgive me Rose..."

Geissel brought the halberd's axe blade down, ready to end the gem's life. Garnet, who had prepared herself to face her end was surprised when it did not come.  
She opened her eyes and saw that the False gem seemed frozen with pain. Suddenly, a huge crack split down her stomach with white light beaming out of from it. Geissel screamed in pain and fell to the ground. The crack began to widen and spread as the False gem screamed and flailed.

"What is this!" she shrieked in terror.

Suddenly a pair of glowing white hands clawed their way out of Geissel's stomach. Slowly, a featureless figure pulled it's way out of the screaming Geissel.  
As the figure was born, Geissel began to feel weaker. She rapidly grew thinner and her hair began to fall out.

"What did you do to me?!" she screamed furiously.

The figure did not answer. It floated gracefully over to Pearl and offered her it's hand. She looked up and heard the figure speak.

"Get in on this, Pearl."

The voice sounded like Steven's, Tibbets', and Rose's.  
Pearl's gemstone glowed and was pulled into the figure's body.  
Garnet's gemstone's glowed brightly. She broke from her bindings and dove into the mass of light.  
Amethyst's eyes flickered open.

"Should have known you wouldn't stay dead," she chuckled.

Her gemstone glowed an she too dove into the light mass.

* * *

The mass of light and gemstones began to pulse and spark as five separate minds fused into one.  
Geissel's burners began to flee in terror from the mass of light.  
But their bodies began to fall apart and melt before they could escape.  
The molten Uranium of their bodies were drawn into the mass of light and energy.  
Suddenly, the entity unleashed a scorching bright light as a pulse of energy exploded out from it's center.  
The blast threw the False gem out into the ocean. With a gout of steam, she rose out of the water infuriated and dazed.  
Before her stood a fusion that should not have been possible.  
Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Steven had fused together along with her offspring Tibbets.  
The entity stood ten feet tall. The clearly masculine gem fusion hybrid has eight thick arms, each wrapped in chains and broken shackles.  
Four glowing white eyes glared viciously and had what looked like black war paint on his cheeks.  
What appeared to be an old paratrooper helmet with a pearl on it's front sat atop the entity's head.  
Around his neck were hundreds of dog tags, each one had the name of a crystal gem Geissel had killed.  
His chest had a purple gemstone surrounded by riveted metal armor with an olive-drab color. His legs were covered in the same metal armor.  
Wrapped loosely around his chest and shoulder was a black translucent scarf that flowed gracefully behind him.

* * *

The entity opened his hands and summoned each of the gems weapons.  
Garnet's gauntlets, Amethyst's whip, Pearl's spear, and Steven's shield.  
In his last two hands, he summoned Rose's laser light cannon.  
Lastly, the entity opened his mouth and summoned a single bullet. The weapons glowed bright white and came together to form a single weapon.  
The fusion weapon looked like an oversized M1-Garand battle rifle from the Second World War. Towards the front of the rifle was a gray blast shield.  
Underneath the rifle barrel was an eight foot long bayonet that looked like Pearl's spear head.  
The barrel of the rifle had markings that matched the markings on Rose's laser light cannon. In between his dagger like teeth was an eight round clip of ammunition. Each bullet looked about twenty millimeters thick.

With a gauntlet covered hand, the entity pulled back the firing bolt of the rifle. Geissel burned bright with anger and hatred.

"Who dares challenge me?! Geissel, the Destroyer of Worlds!"

The entity took the clip of ammo out of his mouth and placed it along the firing chamber.

"Don't ya recognize me, ma?" the entity's voice echoed like distant thunder.

With a loud click, the ammo clip was pushed into the rifle. The rifle began to hum and it's markings glowed bright white.

"I'm your boy, Amalgam."


	24. Chapter 24: Critical Mass

Chapter 24

* * *

Lightning flashed and rain began to fall from the angry black skies. Steam rose off from Geissel's body as the rain vaporized against the intense heat of her body.  
She gripped her halberd tightly as she glared hatefully at the gem fusion Amalgam. None of it made sense to her, but she was too furious to care.  
Whatever Amalgam was, Geissel was ready to tear him to pieces.

"So, you just couldn't stay dead, could you?" she hissed angrily.

Amalgam let out a loud laugh and smiled.

"What can I say? I get my stubbornness from you!"

Geissel bared her teeth in an angry scowl.

"You're no child of mine!" she spat. "You're nothing but an abomination!"

Amalgam snorted steam from his nostrils and raised his weapon.

"Comin' from somethin' like you, that's hilarious!" he laughed heartily.

Geissel let out an arrogant cackle.

"Humans and their guns," she said smugly. "It will take more than that to harm-"

Amalgam pulled the trigger. In a split second, the firing bolt struck the primer and ignited the charge within the bullet.  
As the bullet traveled down the barrel, the end of the barrel split open like rose petals with a bright pink flash.  
Erupting out of the barrel was a laser beam that was propelling the bullet at the speed of light.  
The combined projectile blasted a 20mm sized hole right through Geissel's collarbone. At first, she couldn't comprehend what had just happened.  
She saw the flash, felt a searing pain, then heard the terrifying boom of the cannon firing.

"Little high..." Amalgam sneered as he peered up from the rifle sights.

Geissel was silent, shock numbing her senses. As the shock wore off, she began to scream in agony. She had never felt this amount of pain before.  
Her crystal like body was not sealing the wound and liquid metal was gushing out of her.

"How did you-what did you- No!" she screamed frantically as she gripped her massive wound.

Amalgam sneered as he blew the smoke from the glowing hot rifle barrel.

"And I got seven more where that came from!" he roared as lightning flashed across the sky.

Without warning, he charged Geissel and slammed the butt of his rifle into her face, which broke her nose and some of her teeth.  
As she tumbled through the air, she began to charge a beam attack.

"Burn in Hell!" she screamed as she fired the heat beam out of her mouth.

The superheated beam of air struck against Amalgam's face. Her eyes went wide with terror as the beam did little more than singe his face.

_This shouldn't be happening,_ Geissel thought as she watched Amalgam wipe the ash from his face. Nothing should have been able to survive a blast of that level of heat and radiation.

"W-wh-what are you?!" she stammered horrified.

Amalgam grabbed her by the neck with one of his massive arms and held her up to his face.

"What am I?" he repeated calmly. "I'm just the missing piece of the bomb."

With a loud hiss of steam, Amalgam's chest armor opened up to reveal his Uranium core. The False gem felt her own core pulse with activity.  
Her core had reached sub-critical mass and was responding to Amalgam's core. She suddenly realized what he meant.

"Y-you wouldn't be foolish enough to do that!" Geissel stammered frightened. "You would kill us both and destroy this little city!"

Amalgam gave a deep guttural growl and exhaled steam from his mouth.

"That's why we're goin' on a field trip."

He then threw Geissel in front of him and fired his weapon with a thunderous boom. The beam propelled the False gem away from the coast of Beach City and further out to the ocean. Amalgam took a deep breath, then as he exhaled, several air vents opened up on his back.  
With a gout of steam bursting out of each vent, Amalgam rocketed himself through the air.  
As Geissel skipped atop the water's surface, Amalgam delivered a four armed punch that threw her even further out to sea.  
His goal was to get her as far away from the coast as he could. He was running out of time.  
Unknown to Geissel, the sub-critical Uranium core of Tibbets' body was burning through the gem's energy as their bodies unintentionally fought against the fusion. Should he take too long to kill Geissel, the damage done to their gems would be irreversible, and in Steven's case, fatal. But Amalgam wasn't about to let that happen. He knew what it was going to take to kill Geissel. The only way to make sure she stayed dead was to completely destroy her core.  
And the only thing strong enough to do that was a nuclear chain reaction.  
Once he forced the False gem to at least five-hundred miles away from the coast, he would end her once and for all.

* * *

Geissel hit the water and sprang to her feet. She was not about to let her bastard dethrone her. She raised her halberd and blocked a slash from Amalgam's bayonet. Geissel swung the halberd and slashed Amalgam's face, leaving a deep gash under his eye.

"I won't let you take what is rightfully mine!" she yelled as she attacked furiously.

Despite her boasts, she knew that she was vastly outmatched. She was weakened and smaller now, and Amalgam was a far stronger than she was.  
But, she was still a silver tongued devil. She could feel the conflicting emotions of the gems within Amalgam.  
Together, the gems were strong, but separate, they were as weak as ever. All she had to do was press the right buttons, and they would all collapse.

"You know what's funny about all of this?" Geissel hissed. "Had you gems gone into the mine with Rose that day, none of this would be happening!"

Amalgam grabbed her and slammed her over his knee, breaking her back and shattering her crystal form even further.

"You were so busy consoling Rose that you never bothered to clear the mine!" Geissel laughed as Uranium leaked from her mouth. "Who do you think had to clean up the mess she made?"

She screamed in pain as Amalgam tightened his grip around her body, breaking her ribs.

"Remember that young sergeant of Hunter 22 Actual? The one who's brother flew the A-10 Warthog?!"

Amalgam froze, the gems were all struggling to maintain their fused for as this new damning revelation came to light.

"You hear that Tibbets?" Geissel asked mockingly. "You do have a good reason to hate the gems after all. They let your father die!"

_ That's impossible!_

_ She's lying!_

_ We didn't know!_

"Shut up!" Amalgam roared as he tried to silence the cries of the distraught gems. "Shut up!"

Geissel smiled cruelly, her plan was working. Seeing an opening, she broke free from Amalgam's grasp and blasted him point-blank in the face with a heat beam.  
He cried out in pain as all but one of his eyes were blinded.

"You should have seen how he begged for his life as I raped him!" she spat. "It was so pathetic!"

"Shut up!" Amalgam roared as his body began to fall apart at the seams.

Geissel smiled wild eyed and full of hatred. She had him right where she wanted him. He was all her's now.

"By the time I was done with him, his brain was so fried that he actually thought you were his child, how disgusting!" she hissed as she raised her halberd. "In the end, all of this is the gem's fault. They are just as guilty as I am. The only difference is that I know I'm guilty. But those gems don't wish to accept how guilty they really are!"

She then hacked off one of Amalgam's arms. He was so numb that he couldn't even feel it.

"As for you, Tibbets. I think I'm going to miss you the most," Geissel mocked. "Out of all of my tools, you were the the most...resistant."

She readied her halberd, she was going to end this fight once and for all.

"I blame your grandparents."

Geissel drove the axe blade deep into Amalgam's neck. But instead of the sense of victory she expected, all she felt was a splitting pain in her stomach.  
She looked down and saw Amalgam's bayonet sliding into her gut. Amalgam grabbed Geissel by the arms and pulled her deeper into the bayonet.

"Never...ever talk smack about my Grammy and Pappy!" he roared like thunder.

He began to fire the cannon point-blank into Geissel's stomach. His arms locked her in place and kept from being thrown back from the blasts.  
Each blast tore through her body and further damaged her core. Finally, after he fired the remaining bullets, the spent ammo clip was ejected with the M-1's iconic ping sound. Geissel hung limply on the bayonet, her core was completely exposed. She had no more strength left in her, for the first time in her life, she felt helpless.  
The armor on Amalgam's chest opened up and he removed his own power core. He then loaded his core into the cannon calmly.

"Please..." Geissel begged, terrified at the thought of her impending doom. "Have mercy...I'm your mother..."

Amalgam rested his finger an the trigger.

"You deserve none."

With that, he pulled the trigger and fired his core into Geissel's exposed core. As the two core collided, they started a nuclear chain reaction. As atoms began to split apart, they released untold quantities of energy. Almost instantly, the False gem's core was destroyed as she was turned into a living atomic bomb. With an explosive force of thirteen kilotons of TNT, and reaching temperatures up to 7000ºF, the blast engulfed Amalgam in it's hellish power.

* * *

The people of Beach city all stared in a mixture of wounder and horror at the sudden and intense flash of light on the horizon.  
The flash was white like magnesium and shown like the rising sun. They had no idea how lucky they were.  
The blast was far enough away that none of them were in danger.  
Suddenly, out of the sky fell Amalgam.  
The only thing that had kept him safe from the nuclear blast was a shield that Rose's gemstone had created in the instant before the blast.  
He slammed into the docks and smashed them to pieces. After tumbling like a rag doll, he finally ground to a stop. He laid face down in the sand, his armor glowing hot and steam rising off of him.

"Alright, everyone off the bus!" he muffled into the sand.

His body flashed and the gems were all separated. The gems, Steven, and Tibbets all moaned soarly as they picked themselves up.  
They all stared at the black mushroom cloud that rose on the horizon. The sight of the black cloud meant that their battle was over. The False gem was dead.  
They had won.

"D-did we just win?" Amethyst asked as she stared wide eyed at the mushroom cloud.

Pearl rubbed her eyes and winced in pain.

"I-I think we did..." she spoke in awe.

"Then, it's finally over," Garnet stated with a sigh of relief. "We've won."

"Yeah we did!" Steven exclaimed loudly. "In your face faker!"

Steven suddenly felt the gems all pick him up in a big family group hug. They all laughed with joy as they held tightly to him.

"Oh Steven! Thank goodness you're alright!" Pearl cried happily as she nuzzled him.

"Yeah. I knew you'd come back!" Amethyst laughed happily with tears in her eyes.

"Yep, kid's a scrappy one," Tibbets chuckled weakly.

The gems all fell silent in awe as if they were seeing a ghost.

"T-Tibbets, y-you're-"

"Alive! I know, isn't it great?!" Steven exclaimed overjoyed. "We're alive, he's alive, and we all saved the world!"

Steven ran up an tugged on Tibbets' jacket sleeve.

"Now, we can all make up, and we can all be friends!"

The smile on Tibbets face faded.

"Wish I could, kid," he said in a somber tone. "But I'm not staying for much longer."

"What?! What do ya mean you're not staying?!" Steven asked with disbelief. "You just got back and now you're leaving?"

A chill fell over the three gems, they all knew what Tibbets meant, and it was nothing to celebrate.

Garnet placed her hand over Steven's shoulder.

"He means that...he's dying," she said in a serous yet sympathetic tone.

Steven felt his heart sink. He looked back to Tibbets, hoping what Garnet was saying wasn't true. Tibbets gave a gentle nod of his head, confirming Steven's fear.

"B-but you just got back, you helped us destroy the False gem, and...and..." Steven tried to speak, but small sobs made it impossible.

Tibbets kneeled down and opened his arms. Steven ran and clung to him with all of his strength.

"You can't leave! I don't wanna lose you again!" he wept into Tibbets chest.

Tibbets' shoulders shook as tears of his own fell down his face.

"When I destroyed my core, I severed the only thing that could hold my physical form. I probably only have a few minutes left."

"But-but-it's not fair!" Steven cried out.

"I know little bro, but that's the hand I've been dealt," Tibbets said in a comforting voice. "Besides, I want to see my dad, uncle, and grandparents again."

Downheartedly, Tibbets broke away from Steven and turned to the gems.

"I'm sorry for how I acted. Geissel made me feel such anger towards you gems, that I kind of made an ass out of my self," Tibbets stated with a sad simile. "I only wanted to show Steven humanity's history so that he would know not to repeat it."

There was not a dry eye among the gems. They all felt guilty for what they had tried to cover up. Suddenly, Tibbets' body began to shimmer and fade.  
Pearl felt incredibly guilty for how hostile she had been towards him. She didn't want him to have that angry, cold vision of her in his mind when he died.  
Much to everyone's surprise, she ran past the others and planted a tiny kiss on Tibbets cheek.

"I'm sorry for how I've acted," Pearl whimpered, her voice heavy with regret.

Tibbets put his hand over his cheek and then busted out laughing.

"Grandpa gets a slap to the face, and his grandson gets a kiss! How times have changed!"

Pearl turned deep blue with embarrassment while Amethyst busted out into sob filled laughter.

With tears rolling down his face, Steven pulled Tibbets into one last brotherly embrace. Tibbets smiled and ruffled up Steven's hair.

"Never forget what I've said," he stated firmly.

"The only thing necessary of the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing," Steven sobbed.

Tibbets nodded his head and turned to the gems.

"You'll do the right thing," he stated firmly. "I know you will."

He then unfolded his sunglasses and pushed them up his nose. As he did, his body suddenly began to blow away like shimmering dust.

"Later, kid..."

* * *

Steven stood with his arms held out as Tibbets' smiling face faded from existence, this time never to return.  
As physical and mental exhaustion crashed down on him, Steven slowly slid to his knees with an blank tear filled stare.  
He then felt a pair of warming arms wrap around him tenderly.

"It's over," Pearl sighed as she held Steven comfortingly. "We saved the world and avenged all of the humans and crystal gems Geissel had killed. It's finally over."

"But look at the cost, Pearl," Amethyst stated soberly.

The temple was in ruins. Beach city was irradiated, and the crystal heart was dead. On top of it all, Steven had just lost one of his closest friends, this time for good.

"We can make things right again, Amethyst," Garnet responded firmly. "We are the Crystal Gems. We always find a way."


	25. Chapter 25 : The Fallout

Chapter 25

* * *

Weeks had passed since the crystal gems had put an end to the False gem's terror. Yet the city still suffered from the wounds she had inflected upon it.  
Pearl had to spend hours of her days cleansing the city and it's people of radiation. Each cleansing left her exhausted had feeling sick.  
Garnet managed to heal the crystal heart and thus, brought power back to the rest of the temple.  
With the heart slowly regaining it's pulse, the gems could focus on repairing the damaged temple. But the damages were not merely physical.  
The gems all felt an emotional weight on their shoulders.  
It had taken so much to defeat the False gem, and they knew the only reason they succeeded was from the help of Steven's friend Tibbets.  
The False gem had shown them something that frightened them greatly; she had shown them their mortality.  
Now their strengths and abilities were being questioned by those that they swore to protect.  
The city had been placed under martial law with the U.S military setting up checkpoints all around the city.  
It was clear that the powers that be were clearly dissatisfied with the job the gems had done.  
Even with this unwelcomed development, the gems still remembered their mission; to protect Steven. Out off all of the gems, Steven was the one hurting the most.  
He had fallen into a deep depression. He felt like he was lost with no way out of the darkness he had fallen into. He needed help, he needed to feel warm, to feel welcomed, to feel wanted. The temple did not feel like a home anymore. He didn't know who he was anymore, or what he was.

* * *

Pearl wobbled tiredly into the temple, exhausted from cleaning up more irradiated land. Garnet and Amethyst were taking a short break from rebuilding the temple.

"How is he?" Pearl asked with a motherly concern in her voice.

"He hasn't said a word all day," Garnet stated worriedly.

"We tried to get Connie over here, but the with the military curfew...that wasn't gonna happen," Amethyst stated sadly.

Pearl rubbed her eyes tiredly. After all they had done, they were still being treated like side show freaks.

"I'll go talk to him again," she stated firmly. "He needs our support now more than ever."

Garnet nodded her head.

"Agreed," she stated flatly. "Amethyst and I will get back to repairing the temple."

Amethyst groaned and pushed herself off of the couch.

"Back to work," she sighed.

After take a few moments to collect herself and to curse the False gem for destroying the crystal temple winery, Pearl made her way up to Steven's room.  
She didn't know what she was going to say to him, but knew that he needed help in this very difficult time. She peeked her into his room.  
The lights were dimmed down and the air was stale.

"Steven, my I come in?" Pearl asked softly.

Steven didn't respond, he just curled up in his blankets.

"I'll take that as a yes," Pearl sighed sadly.

She tiptoed her way to the side of Steven's bed. She could see the rusty chain of Tibbets' grandfather's dog tags in his hand.  
Pearl sat down next to him and rubbed his shoulders tenderly. She knew the pain he was feeling all to well. He was feeling the loss of a very dear friend, maybe even a brother. Pearl remembered the way she felt when Rose died. It was the worst pain she had ever felt. Steven turned his head up to her with an empty look in his eyes.

"Pearl...how did you deal with this?" Steven mumbled quietly. "When Rose died? Because I feel like I'm gonna be sick."

Seeing the pain Steven was in, Pearl laid down next to him.

"I kept telling myself that Rose wouldn't want me to feel this way over her," Pearl sighed sadly. "Tibbets wouldn't want to see you like this over him, now would he?"

Steven's shoulders began to shake as tears rolled down his face.

"No...he wouldn't," he sobbed. "But I can't help it, I miss him so much."

Pearl felt tears of her own trickle down her face. She had never seen Steven so sad, and it was tearing her apart watching him suffer.  
She put her arms around him and pulled him in close to her.

"I know it hurts Steven, and I hate to have to say this, but the pain never goes away," Pearl said firmly. "The only thing you can do is let time dull the pain."

Steven whimpered with the dog tags jingling in his trembling hand. Tibbets was the closest thing to a brother he ever had, and he felt as if someone had just punched a hole right through his heart.  
Steven felt Pearl close his hand around the dog tags.

"You saved him, Steven," she spoke softly. "I'm sure that he is smiling down on you."

"Will I see him again if...when I eat the big one?" Steven asked somberly.

Pearl let out a sob and pressed her forehead against him.

"Please don't talk like that!" she begged with tears. "I can't lose you again!"

She felt Steven press back against her softly.

"I'm sorry, Pearl..." he mumbled flatly.

"No, I'm sorry," Pearl responded. "I'm sorry for all of the lies and deceit. I just wanted to-"

Steven rolled over and held tightly on to her.

"Keep something like this from happening," he sighed.

"I had no right," Pearl stated, ashamed of herself. "Rose wouldn't have wanted me to lie to you. I should have known better! I just hope that you can forgive me after all I've done."

Steven was silent for a moment, then he looked up into her eyes.

"Will you read me his books?" he asked tiredly.

Pearl smiled and ran her hand through his hair.

"I-I would love to," she sniffled softly.

Steven yawned and patted her on the shoulder.

"Not right now though...I'm tired. Maybe tomorrow?"

Pearl yawned as well, she was completely exhausted. She leaned her head against Steven's pillow and watched him fall asleep.  
It was going to be a long journey forward, but now Pearl had a way to make things right again. Her eyelids felt like led as exhaustion weighed down on them.  
With the child she loved as her own in her arms, Pearl slowly fell asleep. History wasn't going anywhere, and right now, Pearl had her little Steven back.  
While Tibbets had shown Steven the horrors of the wars, he had also shown him a powerful new concept; fighting for something you care about.  
Steven cared for the gems, and their love was worth fighting for.

"I love you, Pearl."

"I love you too, Steven."

* * *

_The End?_


	26. Epilogue

Epilogue

* * *

It took some time, but slowly Steven overcame his depression. He still missed Tibbets, but now only focused on the happy memories the two had forged.  
True to her word, Pearl began to read and teach Steven more about humanity's past. Eventually, everything went back to the way they were before.  
The gems would protect humanity and Steven would tag along with them. And they all lived happily ever after.  
Or so they thought.

* * *

Nevada.

Within the confines of the infamous air base Area 51, underneath miles of earth, a group of scientists and top military officials had been gathered for a classified conference. The lights in the conference room dimmed as the lead scientist entered the room. He wore thick black sunglasses and walked with a cane.

"I'm glad you all could be here today," he spoke in a thick German accent. "I hope zee trip vas-"

"Cut the bull, Professor Adler," a high ranking General barked. "I don't have all night."

Adler clicked his tongue irritatedly at the impatiences of the General.

"Fine, zhen I vill get right to zee point," he stated bitterly.

He pressed a button on a remote and brought up several photos of the Crystal gem's battle with Geissel. The photos had been taken from an American spy satellite.

"As you all can see, zee last battle zee Crystal gems fought vas a complete nightmare," Adler stated calmly. "If zey had failed to get zis 'False gem' away from zee city, the results could have sparked WW3."

"We will recover, we always do," the general stated somberly.

"Of course, General William," Adler responded. "But, if anything, zis battle has made something painfully obvious."

Adler pressed the remote and brought up several close up shots of Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl up on the projection screen.

"Zee Crystal gems are no longer affective at protecting humanity."

General William leaned forward in is chair.

"In your expert opinion, what should we do?"

Adler chuckled and brought up photos of Geissel during her battle with the gems. On the other monitors, the Nazi blueprints and diagrams all appeared.

"Ve start over," he spoke with a slight hiss. "Ve make our own Crystal gems."

"What makes you think we will have better luck than the Nazis did?" William inquired skeptically. "You can see what their attempt produced."

"Zee Nazis vere sloppy," Adler snapped. "They vere using inadequate technology and playing vith powers they could not control."

Adler paused and removed his glasses. His eyes were milk white with gem ruin markings glowing dully on his eyes.

"Zee difference between us und zem, is zhat ve; the U.S, have zee technology, und I know vhat powers ve are toying vith."

Quiet murmuring echoed through the room as the scientists and military officials discussed amongst themselves.  
With a heavy sigh, General William slumped back in his chair. He understood the risks, but he also knew that the crystal gems were almost all gone.  
Humanity needed protection, above all, the U.S needed projection. After weighing the pros and cons, William stood up from his chair.

"We took a huge risk getting the information you needed from the Crystal Archiver," he stated firmly. "If you can give us results, then you have my support."

"Thank you, General," Adler said with a bow.

He turned back to the projected images and smiled.

"You vill not be disappointed..."

As everyone's attention was on the general and Adler, one of the scientists blinked his left eye repeatedly.  
He was taking photos and recording the secret meeting through a camera in his eye.  
Pretending to wipe his eye, the scientist began to relay the information to a hidden military research lab in Siberia.

_Foolish Americans,_ he thought spitefully.

_Mother Russia thanks you for your contribution. _

* * *

_*Dun-Dun-DUNNN!*_

_Finally, after months of typing, it's finally finished!_

_*Squints eyes shiftily*_

_Or is it?_

_Anyway, thanks for reading, I truly hoped you enjoyed it. _


End file.
